


I Am Become Death

by jublee



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Death, Established Relationship, F/F, Gore, Horror, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-05-21 03:08:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6035623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jublee/pseuds/jublee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?"</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>The Mist AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavily based off The Mist by Stephen King and some stuff from the movie. Some of the dialogue is straight from the book, like most of Jaha's and yeah.

_As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?_ -The Mist (film, 2007)

* * *

 

Clarke stared into the night at the drizzling rain coming down outside her living room window. The dark clouds in the distance held the promise of a stronger storm later that night and she was feeling anxious about being stuck inside her house for an indefinite amount of time. Lighting flashed across the sky followed by a booming sound and the rain sped up.

"Clarke get away from the window, the wind's picking up," her mom said as she entered the house.

Clarke rolled her eyes but figured it wasn't worth the fight. She walked over to the couch and sat on it as her mother took off her shoes and her soaked cardigan.

"Have fun on your date?" Clarke asked with barely concealed hostility.

"Don't start Clarke," Abby sighed as she walked over to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

"It hasn't even been a year, mom," she scoffed before getting up and walking up the stairs. She heard her mom call her back but ignored her and locked herself in her room. She sat on her bed and pulled out her phone, hesitating for only a second before she dialed.

"Hey," she said.

" _Hey, what's wrong?_ " Lexa answered and Clarke smiled.

"How do you know something's wrong?"

" _You only call me at work when something's bothering you_ ," was the amused reply.

"Oh shit," Clarke ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "I forgot you were working right now, sorry I can—"

" _Hey, don't worry about it. I'm on break right now. Tell me what's wrong_."

"Don't you have to eat?" she asked. She really hadn't meant to call Lexa while she was working, but she also really wanted to talk to her.

" _I can eat and listen, Clarke. I have many skills_ ," Lexa replied and Clarke smiled as she heard a bag crackling open.

"Don't be an ass," she laughed.

" _Tell me what's wrong_."

"If you insist," Clarke said playfully before she sighed. "My mom went on another date," she finally said.

" _Oh?_ "

"Yeah, and I know I should be supportive or whatever but it hasn't even been a full year since she...and now with tomorrow's lunch I..." Clarke choked up and didn't continue. She rubbed her burning eyes in frustration and cleared her throat.

" _People have different ways of dealing with grief, Clarke. Have you talked to her about how you feel yet?_ " Lexa asked.

"I can't! I just get so mad and end up arguing with her until one of us gets frustrated and walks away. I just wish..."

" _I know,_ " Lexa replied softly. If anyone knew how much the loss of a parent affected a person, it was her. _"Are you doing anything tomorrow?"_ she asked after a beat.

"No, my car's still in the shop," Clarke sniffled and readjusted herself until she was on her side.

" _I get off early tomorrow. Would you like to accompany me to the gardens?_ " Lexa asked shyly and Clarke smiled.

"I'd love to, but what about the next day?"

" _We can still go to the museum then. That is, unless you get sick of my face._ "

"I'll never get sick of your face," Clark replied quickly.

" _Damn right,_ " Lexa said. Clarke could almost hear the smirk through the phone.

"I shouldn't have said that, you have a big enough head."

" _You love my head_ ," Lexa said and Clarke rolled her eyes with a snort. She'd walked right into that one.

"I like you better when you're shy," Clarke replied as she tried not to let her smile affect her voice.

" _You like me better, period,_ " Lexa quipped.

"I don't know why I still talk to you," Clarke said but a short laugh had finally broken free. "Thank you," she said softly.

Lexa didn't need to ask why she was thanking her.

" _Always. Hey my break's over. I have to get back to work but I'll text you when I get off, okay?_ "

"Okay, bye Lex."

" _Drink some water so you don't wake up with a headache. I'll talk to you later_ ," Lexa said and hung up. Clarke sighed deeply before setting her phone aside and closing her eyes.

She'd just managed to drift off when a loud crash followed by a scream woke her up. Her heart raced as she jumped off her bed and sprinted down the stairs.

"Mom!" she yelled almost tripping over the last step, she skidded into the living room and gaped. The tree that had once been in their backyard had been uprooted by the wind and was now half in their living room, letting in droves of rain. A shiver ran up her spine at the cold breeze and the thought that she'd been standing in that same spot earlier.

"Clarke!" she heard as her mom suddenly hugged her. "Come on honey, let's get to the basement. We'll worry about this tomorrow," she said and guided Clarke towards the door.

"Why did you scream?" Clarke asked cautiously. Adrenaline was still pumping through her body from being woken up so abruptly, making her hands shake.

"I was in the kitchen, the sound startled me," Abby said. Clarke was about to reply when all of the lights went out.

"Great," Clarke sighed.

"I'm going to look for a few candles or flashlights," Abby said as she walked back towards the kitchen. Clarke sighed and headed back upstairs to retrieve her phone, the occasional flash of lightning lighting her way.

When she finally made it down to the basement, her mom had already set up candles to light the room. It was a large, open area where her dad had set up an entertainment center a few years back. She hadn't been down there since his accident.

There were three couches facing the big screen television and her mom sat in one of them with a blanket covering her. She was leafing through a medical journal, squinting in the low light. Clarke didn't say anything as she sat on the farthest couch from her and lied down. She glanced at the small reinforced window above the television where the rain was pelting at the glass and lightning occasionally flashed before closing her eyes. She tried to ignore the dull pain starting up behind her eyes now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

"I put a few water bottles in the mini," Abby said and Clarke ignored her for a few seconds before sighing and standing up to get one. The rain and thunder could still be heard raging outside and she really hoped it wouldn't hold over to the next day.

When the clouds finally parted the following day, Clarke woke up with a crick in her neck and a very dry mouth. She sat up and stretched languidly, noticing her mom wasn't in the room anymore and the candles had been extinguished. Sunlight filtered in to the room from the small window and she smiled when she noticed it. Turning on her phone she saw she had two texts from Lexa and she opened them.

**Lex 10:13pm:** Just got home, safe and sound

**Lex 10:38pm:** Sleep well :*

She smiled lightly and texted her back.

**Sent 7:35am:** Good morning!! I fell asleep before I got your text :( I'm glad you got home ok that storm really picked up. There's a literal tree in our living room right now

She got a reply as she was heading up the basement stairs.

**Lex 7:36am:** Old oaky noooo :( send me a pic also good morning, sunshine!

**Sent 7:37am:** Are you calling me sunshine or pointing out the weather?

The reply was almost immediate.

**Lex 7:37am:** You of course  <3

**Sent 7:38am:** Sap :*

She laughed and pocketed her phone as she walked into the kitchen to make herself something to eat.

"Who's making you laugh this early?" She jumped a little when her mom spoke up. She hadn't seen her sitting at the island sipping on coffee.

"Lexa," she replied shortly and pulled out a box of Captain Crunch and served herself a bowl. She'd wanted something more filling but she really didn't want to have to spend a lot of time with her mother.

"Are you two still together?" Abby asked warily as she eyed the cereal. She hadn't been a big fan when Clarke had told her. Lexa being a well known trouble maker, at least according to their school's principle who her mom happened to be on friendly terms with. She hadn't objected but she'd never really warmed up to Lexa in the six months they'd been official. Clarke was just glad her mother had at least been civil when she'd introduced them, if a bit stiff.

"Yes mom," Clarke said as she set about eating her cereal as fast as she could. Abby sighed and they stayed quiet for a few minutes before she spoke up again.

"I called the insurance company, the window and the tree will be cleaned up later today," she said and Clarke just hummed as she finished up and started washing her dish. She hadn't even sat down.

"Would you mind going to the store for me? I have a short notice video conference in a few minutes and we don't have all of the ingredients I need to make lunch," Abby said before Clarke could flee the kitchen. Clarke stopped at the doorway and sighed. Marcus, her mother's new boyfriend, was coming for lunch so they could 'meet properly'. She really wasn't looking forward to it. She'd even almost invited Lexa at her mother's reluctant insistence, but she hadn't wanted to put her through what was sure to be an awkward afternoon.

"My car's still in the shop," she tried.

"Take mine, I'll give you a list," Abby said as she got up and started searching through a drawer.

"Fine, just let me get ready," Clarke replied and bounded upstairs.

When she came back down to the kitchen about an hour later, a sheet of paper and a credit card greeted her on the island. She could hear the enthusiastic murmurs from her mother coming from her office down the hall and she rolled her eyes as she pocketed the items. She quickly went back into the living room and snapped a picture of the tree but frowned when she noticed something odd in it. She tried squinting at the picture before she looked back out of the gaping whole in the wall. Fog was rolling in on top of the trees that made up the forest in the distance. Mount Weather couldn't even be seen anymore.

Her stomach dropped and a weird feeling rolled down her spine making goosebumps erupt on her arms. Shaking her head quickly she sent the picture to Lexa and grabbed her mom's keys as she headed outside.

Glancing around the neighborhood she saw it was in disarray. Theirs had not been the only tree uprooted and giant puddles covered most of the ground. Many of the picket fences had been destroyed and she winced when she saw a big branch on the bent roof of her next door neighbor's brand new sports car. Then she smirked and clicked her mom's car open and got in.

The damaged car belonged to her neighbor's kid, an asshat named Murphy who made it a point to be unpleasant to Lexa and herself if he ever saw them. She felt no sympathy towards him after remembering that.

Starting the car she pulled out of her driveway and headed towards the Ark, the grocery store Lexa worked at and her mother liked to avoid stating she didn't like the atmosphere. It probably didn't help its reputation that the only reason people called it the Ark was because the sign outside was suppose to say MARKET but the M, E and T letters had fallen off years ago and nobody had bothered to replace them. Lexa didn't work until later but she still liked it better than the one her mom insisted on going to.

She turned on the radio and frowned when all she heard was static. She tried a few other stations and sighed when it didn't pick anything up. Giving up on it she drove on.

A few minutes later she pulled into the parking lot and with annoyance noticed that it was mostly full. A car pulled out ahead of her and she drove towards the spot. Right before she could turn into it a car came from the other direction and stole her spot. She hit the breaks and honked her horn.

"Asshole!" she yelled and watched Bellamy Blake exit the driver's side followed by John Murphy exiting the passenger side, who flipped her off with a smirk. Octavia, Bellamy's younger sister came out after Murphy and gave her a sympathetic look.

She growled and was tempted to purposely knock into Bellamy's precious Mustang but she reeled it in. Her mother wouldn't be happy if something happened to her new Explorer, not right after she'd paid for Clarke to fix her own car which had 'mysteriously' gotten a shattered window.

Rolling her eyes she ignored their crude sign making and went around to park where a car was leaving right beside the entrance. She exited her car and laughed loudly when she saw Murphy and Bellamy bump into the automatic doors that hadn't opened for them. Apparently her house hadn't been the only thing affected by the power outage.

"Shut it, princess," Bellamy scoffed before shoving the doors open, Murphy followed him in rubbing his forehead but Octavia held the door open for her.

"Thanks," Clarke said as she rushed inside to be met with a cloud of humid heat. She blew out a breath and wiped at her forehead.

"Too many people," Octavia said as they looked around at the rushing crowd trying to get supplies.

"Why is everyone here?" Clarke asked. Octavia couldn't help it if her brother sucked and entertained questionable company, so Clarke never really held it against her. Besides, she'd gotten to know the girl a bit when she'd been out to see Lexa practice, they'd shared a team. "The Ark isn't usually this full on a weekday, even if it is summer break."

"The weather report on the radio said the storm's suppose to come back tomorrow," Octavia replied as Clarke got a cart for herself. Bellamy and Murphy had gotten lost in the crowd.

"The power at my house is out and I couldn't get a signal on the car radio," Clarke told her.

"That's weird. Our power was out too but we managed to get a battery radio working this morning. I guess everyone got the same idea. Stocking up, I mean."

"We're basically squirrels," Clarke muttered. "I should probably get a few more things then." She started pushing her cart foward.

"Good idea. Sorry about my brother by the way, Murphy was goading him," Octavia said as they headed for the first aisle.

"It's not your fault your brother's immature," Clarke sighed as she pulled out the grocery list and started scanning it.

"Yeah, but still. I better go find him before he freaks out, see you around," she said and walked off.

"See you around," Clarke muttered as she continue to scan the list. Maybe her mother actually knew something about the returning storm because the list was way more extensive than she'd thought it'd be. She didn't even know where to start looking for half of the things on it.

"Watch it!" someone yelled as she accidentally bumped into a table that held a pyramid of canned goods. She looked up startled as half of it toppled onto the floor.

"Shit, sorry!" Clarke winced.

"Nice going there, Griffin. Way to make my life harder, I'd just finished that," she heard and finally looked over to the employee who'd been stacking the cans.

"Lexa!" she exclaimed surprised before tackling her into a hug.

"Whoa there," Lexa yelped as she caught her and bumped into the table again, causing a few more cans to fall down.

"Sorry," Clarke said sheepishly as she pulled back.

"Don't worry about it. Hey," Lexa smiled.

"Hi," Clarke smirked. "Nice polo, nerd," she said tugging at the other girl's collar.

"You say that every time you see me wear the uniform," Lexa scoffed. "And what, no kiss for my trouble?"

Clarke laughed and tugged at the collar, pulling her in for a kiss. Lexa hummed before hugging her tighter.

"What are you doing here? I thought you didn't work until later," Clarke said when they parted.

"Anya anticipated the flocking that's happening, she called me earlier and asked if I could come in to help out. I was up front earlier but we started running low on stuff so I was put on stock which those cans were the last of. The AC's out, it's hot as hell in here. The generators only work on these stupid lights that are only making everything hotter," Lexa sighed.

"Poor baby," Clarke teased as she ran a hand through Lexa's hair.

"Hey, customer service is a tough business," Lexa said trying not to smile, "you try telling a bunch of overheated, irritated people that they have to stand in long ass lines because the registers are down and we have to use calculators and price books. Not pleasant. No AC Clarke, I'm dying," Lexa groaned as she let her head drop onto Clarke's shoulder.

"I've never heard you complain so much in the entire time I've known you," Clarke laughed as she rubbed Lexa's back.

"It's the heat. It's making me delirious, I hate it," Lexa said as she pulled back. It was too hot to be sharing body heat. "What're you doing here so early anyway? Got bit by the squirrel bug like everyone else?" Lexa asked as she leaned down and started picking the cans up, stacking them back into a pyramid. Clarke helped her out.

"I didn't even know about the storm tomorrow, mom needs some stuff for the special lunch she's making," Clarke said with a grimace.

"Ah yes, meeting the boyfriend today right?" Lexa asked as she settled the last of the cans.

"Yup," Clarke sighed and leaned against the shelf beside the table.

"I'm sure it won't be too bad. Even if it is, we're hanging out later. You can rant all you want about how horrible and stuffy he is if you don't like him, all while surrounded by beautiful flora," Lexa said as she walked over to Clarke and settled her hands on the other girl's waist.

"That does sound appealing," Clarke smiled and put her hands on Lexa's shoulders.

"Need any help?" Lexa asked nodding towards the list that'd fallen into the cart when Clarke had crashed.

"Won't you get in trouble?" Clarke smirked.

"I mean, if you say you need my help then it's my duty to give you a hand. The customer's always right after all," Lexa said trying to maintain a straight face.

"Alright then, I am in need of your assistance. Lead the way commander," Clarke joked and shoved her away lightly.

"I'm not even on the team anymore, we graduated remember?" Lexa laughed and walked over to the cart. She picked up the list and looked it over.

"You don't have to remind me, I'm probably more excited to start at Polis U than you are. The nickname's going to stick though. It's not often someone leads Jaha high's sucky ass football team to two championship wins," Clarke said as she followed Lexa who was pushing the cart down the aisle.

"Then it wasn't so sucky!" Lexa protested.

"I mean, it was totally sucky freshmen and sophomore year," Clarke said and she grabbed a few cans of the tomato sauce Lexa gestured to and dropped them into the cart as they walked on to the next aisle.

Lexa replied playfully haughtily, "Yeah, you're right. They're lucky the city team got disbanded, I would've never tried out otherwise."

"Remember that thing I said about you having a big head?" Clarke said amused as she picked up another item Lexa gestured towards and dropped it in the cart.

"I recall something about you liking—"

"Lexus!" She was interrupted and someone jumped on her back. Her breath rushed out of her and the cart went flying forward. Clarke caught it before it could get too far and looked back at Lexa who'd started jumping around trying to dislodge Octavia from her back, who from the looks of it was making a game of not falling off.

"O, I swear," Lexa grunted jokingly as she finally gave up and stood still.

"What're you gonna do? You can't make me run laps anymore, you graduated remember!" she exclaimed excitedly and squeezed her tighter with her arms and legs. Lexa heaved and looked at Clarke pleadingly, who only laughed at the sight.

"Octavia, get off of her," Bellamy grunted as him and Murphy, who was pushing a cart, came around the corner.

"You're such a spoilsport Bell," Octavia scoffed but complied.

"You'll catch cooties," Murphy snarked as he started piling bags of chips into his cart.

"What are you, five?" Lexa scoffed as she walked over to Clarke to push their cart away.

"What are you, five," Murphy mocked in a high pitched voice and Octavia smacked Bellamy's stomach when he laughed. Clarke rolled her eyes and followed Lexa to the next aisle.

"Want to feel better?" Clarke asked after a few seconds.

"What did you have in mind?" Lexa asked immediately.

"Not like that!" Clarke laughed. "The storm did a number on the trees in my neighborhood—"

"Oh yeah, poor old Oaky. She will be dearly missed," Lexa said seriously.

"Yes, she bore witness to many of our adventures."

"If that's what we're going to call—"

"Anyway! Oaky ended up in my living room, but some other tree ended up on top of Murphy's Challenger," Clarke finally got out.

"No way!" Lexa exclaimed and they stopped walking.

"Yes way. I guess he hasn't seen it since it seems like he spent the night at the Blakes'."

"Holy shit! You've got to record his reaction and send it to me," Lexa laughed.

"Oh yeah, look," Clarke said as she pulled out her phone. Lexa looked over Clarke's shoulder as she pulled up the picture of the tree in her living room.

"Wow, Oaky really did a number on your wall," Lexa said.

"Yeah, I sent it to you earlier,"

"Phone's in the locker room."

"Figured," Clarke said as they continued walking.

They kept talking as they went around the store picking up the rest of the items on the list. People were still milling about, generally irritated, generally rude, making their progress slow.

They passed a small crowd fighting over the last box of pop-tarts as they turned onto the second to last aisle. The only people there were three men in military uniforms who were huddled together arguing in harsh whispers.

People around the city had gotten used to the loitering soldiers that sometimes came into town from Mount Weather. The mountain Clarke could sometimes see from her back yard had been closed off to civilians for over a decade after the military had set up a base there. Most of the older soldiers weren't much for conversation, and if they were they never talked about the ongoings of the mountain. Often people were met with hostility when they asked but these soldiers looked hardly older than Lexa and herself.

The girls shared a look. The last thing on the list was down that aisle, they had to pass by them. They walked on and the arguing became clearer as the neared the soldiers.

"I'm gonna throw up," one of them said.

"Quit your whining, we need to finish getting supplies. Can you handle that, soldier?"

"Yes but-"

"No buts!"

"Carl you have to understand-"

They could no longer hear the conversation as Clarke put a pack of pasta into the cart and they turned the corner.

"That's everything," Lexa said. They'd ended up in the last aisle, where the long checkout line had curved and many frustrated people waited for their turn to pay. The aisle was wider than the rest with shelves on their left containing general party supplies and wall to wall fridges on their right.

"Thank you for helping me out," Clarke said as they came to a stop at the end of the line.

"Do I get a kiss?" Lexa asked quickly and Clarke had to laugh.

"I don't know..." Clarke teased.

"I'll give you a kiss," Octavia joked as her, Bellamy and Murphy stopped behind them in the queue.

"Octavia," Bellamy scolded and she rolled her eyes. Lexa and Clarke just smirked at her.

"Why the hell haven't they propped open the doors, it's like a furnace in here," Murphy complained.

"Why don't you shut the hell up?" Clarke asked him with a saccharine smile. Lexa snorted and he scoffed.

"Hey guys," they heard from behind Bellamy and they all turned towards the new voice. Finn Collins had joined the queue with a basket full of junk food.

"Is everybody planning on hibernating or something?" Octavia asked as she eyed everyone's shopping.

"Precautions," Finn said flicking one of his Doritos bag.

"I thought you were a vegetarian," Lexa said curiously as she eyed the hot dogs and salami in his basket.

"I have a friend staying over, she refuses to eat 'rabbit food'," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Ah," Lexa replied and they all lapsed into an awkward silence as the line crawled forward at a snail's pace.

They finally reached the point where the line bent left and split off into four checkout lanes. Beyond the lanes was a large plate-glass window which gave them a view of the parking lot.

Clarke suddenly realized she knew all of the cashiers working that day. Anya, Lexa's scary ass manager and best friend was farthest from them in a neatly pressed mustard button up that only made her look more intimidating. Then there was Monty Green frantically checking the price book in the next register, then Jasper Jordan, and lastly Maya something or other.

"Hey, Anya's up front. Won't you get in trouble if she sees you not working?" Clarke asked Lexa with a nudge.

"I'll duck out before we get too close, she won't even notice me right now. I'm off in about five minutes anyway, Anya said I could leave early if I came in at the ass crack of dawn," Lexa said as she looked around. There were about thirty people in front of them and she sighed. The easiest person to spot was Thelonious Jaha sticking out like a sore thumb in his overly formal suit. He was the principle of the high school all of them had attended or for some, were currently attending.

"Good, I thought you were going to bail on me and leave me alone with them," Clarke whispered, gesturing with her head towards the bickering bunch behind them.

"I'll help you deal with them," Lexa muttered and Clarke linked their arms as they leaned on the cart.

"My hero," she drawled and giggled when Lexa nudged her.

Suddenly, the shriek of breaks and burning rubber in the distance cut through the idle chatter. A horn blared followed by a few police sirens. Clarke and Lexa looked forward but couldn't see anything from the amount of people in front of them. The sirens got louder as they approached the Ark and then began to fade as the police cars passed by. A few curious stragglers got out of line to get a closer look but most didn't want to risk losing their place. Finn pushed through them and went to look.

"Hold this," he told Clarke and handed her his basket before walking off. She rolled her eyes and placed it in their cart and after a few moments he came back.

"What happened?" Octavia asked him.

"Local PD, I don't know," he said stopping beside Lexa and Clarke.

Everyone looked around as the town fire whistle began to wail, slowly getting higher in pitch before falling off and rising again, over and over.

"What the hell," Bellamy muttered as he looked around at the other people in line.

"A few of my neighbors had busted power lines in their yards. The storm knocked them over, they were still live though. The firetrucks will probably go by in a few," Lexa said warily. She was fleetingly glad she lived alone and didn't have anyone to worry about back at her apartment.

Anya yelled at the curious cashiers, who were trying to see what was happening, to get back to work. They immediately did as they were told.

Someone pushed through the entrance, a kid Clarke had seen hanging out around school. She vaguely thought his name was Adam.

"Fog!" he yelled excitedly. "There's fog rolling in down the road!"

Almost everyone turned to look at him, panting and sweating as he was, like he'd been running for a while but nobody said anything.

"You have to see it," he said almost defensively. No one in line thought it was worth losing their place but several people who'd been in the aisles left their carts and squeezed through the check out lanes to see what he was talking about. The kid yanked the door open and led about a dozen people outside.

"You'll let the AC out," Finn yelled and a few people cracked up.

"I saw it coming across the forest," Clarke told Lexa absently.

"What, the fog?" she asked and Clarke nodded. She didn't know why she suddenly had the urge to call her mom. She shook it off.

"Wanna go take a look?" Octavia asked everyone excitedly.

"No, stay here," Bellamy said. Clarke saw him shift uneasily and was almost glad she wasn't the only one feeling odd. She tried to shake that feeling off as well when the line started moving again.

Most people craned their necks trying to see what the kid was talking about but all they saw was clear, blue sky.

"He's probably high," Murphy muttered. It wouldn't be a stretch, he'd gotten high under the bleachers with Atom plenty of times before school had let out for break.

The fire whistle continued crying in the distance.

"Do they have to keep it on," Clarke asked uneasily. Lexa unlinked their arms and put hers across Clarke's waist, holding her close. Clarke did the same and felt a little lighter.

More people began to trickle out of the store, some even left their place in line which made it move up faster.

Atom came running back into the store.

"My phone's out of battery, who has a camera?" he yelled but nobody answered him. He blew a raspberry before ducking back out. Giddiness ran through the store at that, several more people shuffled closer towards the entrance.

"Don't go out there!" Thelonious suddenly cried. People looked at him warily, some even going as far as to scoot away from him.

"Don't go out there!" he yelled again. "It's not safe, I can feel it!"

"Keep working!" Anya ordered loudly at the cashiers who'd once again gotten distracted. She was eyeing Jaha distastefully.

"Look!" Lexa said worriedly as a man shoved and staggered through the entrance. He was holding one of his hands up to his profusely bleeding nose and his eyes were glassy.

"Help! There's-there's something in the fog! Something in the fog took Atom! Something-" He tripped and landed on his knees but didn't make any effort to get up. " _Something in the fog took Atom and we heard screaming!_ "

A wave of nervous energy flowed through the crowd as most of the people started heading towards the giant windows up front. Some people even went as far as exiting the market without having paid for anything.

"Hey! You haven't paid for that!" Anya yelled but for the first time was generally ignored. Someone set off a chain of anxious giggles as people pushed their faces against the glass, shoving each other curiously as they tried to see what was happening. Jaha kept yelling at people not to go out and the fire whistle continued to trumpet.

"What did he mean? There can't really be anything in the fog," Finn finally spoke up. No one from their group had made a move to get closer to the glass. Someone bumped past Lexa roughly, sending her into Clarke before she righted herself.

"Hey!" she yelled but the man kept walking without glancing back.

"You okay?" Clarke said and Lexa nodded apprehensively. People were getting restless.

Someone screamed and suddenly people started streaming out of the market. A few crashes of breaking glass were heard and the thudding of dropped purchases.

"What the fuck is happening?" Bellamy asked bewildered as he looked around. The light in the market had started to dim, almost as if the clouds from the night before had come rushing back to block out the sun. A few people looked around at the lights on the ceiling but they were still on, weak as they were.

"It's the fog," Octavia said suddenly as people started yelling and pointing out of the windows. They all looked on as it came rolling onto the parking lot, blindingly matte white.

Slowly but surely it crept closer, swallowing the sign out front, the farthest cars on the lot. It kept coming and coming, swallowing the black asphalt and blue sky with equal enthusiasm. Then, quickly, the blue sky became smaller and smaller before it vanished. The white blanket pressed up against the large windows and only a few car bumpers belonging to those lucky few who'd gotten a spot right up front could be seen, barely four feet out.

Someone let out a loud shriek causing Clarke and Lexa to huddle closer together. Like the sound had been a starter shot, a man suddenly ran and shoved his way to the door.

Adrenaline hit everyone hard and more and more people began rushing outside into the fog.

"Calm the fuck down!" Anya roared but they were too far gone. The stampede continued, some people abandoning their purchases, others taking advantage of the chaos to take what they could. They poured into the fog, running figures turning into ghosts before disappearing. The door was suddenly too clogged, people shoved and pushed letting in a pungent smell that hadn't been there before.

Finn began to wander off, an almost bemused expression on his face as he headed for the door.

"I wouldn't, man," Bellamy told him pulling at his arm.

"What?" he said looking back.

"We better wait and see," Bellamy tried.

"See what?"

"Not sure. Better safe than sorry," he replied.

"You don't actually think there's—" He was cut off by another shriek, this time coming from outside. From the fog.

The clog at the entrance paused for a second before quickly reversing, letting the doors fall shut again. The anxious chatter seized as the people closest to the windows paled.

"Oh my god," Finn muttered as he ran his hands through his hair. The shriek continued on and on, fighting the fire whistle for dominance. _Did human lungs have the capacity to scream for that long?_ Lexa thought uneasily.

The shriek cut off abruptly. _Cut off,_ Clarke thought nauseously as she squeezed Lexa tighter. She watched as one last man in old Levy's trudged out of the market. He might have been trying to play the hero for the wailing person but he was there only for a moment. Clarke watched him, barely visible through the fog, almost ghostly in appearance. Then something beyond him, a shadow maybe, moved and Clarke swallowed hard. She tensed as instead of running forward, the man seemed to have been _jerked_ , and then he was gone.

"Did you see that?" she whispered hoarsely. She was sure she'd started to cut off some of Lexa's circulation but she couldn't bring herself to loosen up. Lexa ran her hand up and down Clarke's back as she gave a short nod. She too was suddenly feeling very tightly coiled.

There was a brief moment of silence where not even anyone's breathing could be heard. It was almost oppressive.

"Don't go out there," Jaha said in his best sermon voice. "Only death awaits out there."

No one said anything else until another scream was heard from outside, this one sounding farther away.

"What the hell is going on?" Anya asked as she approached their group. "Did you guys see anything before you came in?"

"It was all clear," Octavia spoke up, her voice sounding smaller than Clarke had ever heard it.

"It's residue from the storm!" someone said but nobody saw who. "Pollution!" someone else yelled.

"Why don't we get out of here, guys?" Finn asked. "We can just—"

Everyone screamed as the building suddenly felt like it'd been dropped three feet. The crashing and breaking of more things was heard and the wooden frames of the big windows buckled and splintered, staying whole except for a small section of glass in the upper right corner. The fire whistle cut off abruptly.

Shocked, bated silence followed.

"Hey, nobody go outside! It's probably dangerous to go outside," Bellamy addressed the entire store.

"We can't stay here! My kids are home alone!" someone yelled back.

"Death is out there," Jaha spoke up again. He'd migrated towards the front and was standing by the heavy fertilizer stacks below the windows.

"That's crazy!" someone yelled.

"Please!" Bellamy yelled again. "We can wait this out, it'll blow over—"

The crowed started arguing back and forth after that for a few moments.

"It was probably an earthquake," a large man was heard. He was holding the hand of a little girl in one hand and had a full basket in the other. The delayed clatter of a falling can was heard and the little girl burst into tears.

"Shut that kid up!" someone screamed.

"Hey!" Anya yelled looking around for the culprit. Lexa managed to extend one of her arms to stop her from seeking them out.

"I can't stay here!" the same woman from earlier spoke up. "My kids... they don't have anyone looking out for them. I was only supposed to be gone a little while," she stopped talking and looked around. No one said anything and her lips began to tremble. "Who...who'll help me get home?" Still no one spoke up. A few shuffled feet, wandering eyes.

"You?" she asked Jasper but he quickly shook his head. "You?", to the large man but he only stared and pulled his kid closer. "You?" she said to Finn, who began to say something but she quickly dismissed him.

"You?" she asked Lexa and Clarke choked off her response with a tight squeeze. Not that she would have left her anyway.

"I hope you all burn in hell," she said, her voice cracking. She went to the entrance and pulled it open with both hands. Clarke almost said something, but her voice failed her.

"Lady, come on," a man started and held her arm. She looked down at his hand until he let her go, suddenly looking like he might throw up any second. She slipped out and they all watched her go and no one said anything. The fog crept up on her, wrapping her up as if welcoming her out and no one said anything. Her arms disappeared, then her legs and her head. Her bright purple dress was the only thing visible as she walked on. Then it was gone and still, no one said anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Formatting was hell. Also, I went over this so many times that I've become blind to my mistakes. Let me know if there're any errors or inconsistencies that I need to fix if you feel like it. 
> 
> Hug your favs now because everything goes down hill from here.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The generator's shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit goes down yo. I also added trigger warnings to the tags so if you need, check them out.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who commented and gave kudos on the last chapter! It really made my day.

The little girl's cries got louder and louder as Lexa and Clarke sat close together in the back of the market by the meat cabinet. Both they and the butcher, who still stood behind his glass meat display, watched on as the kid from earlier cried and her bear of a father tried to comfort her. He was on his knees trying to sooth her but she was having none of it. They'd too, migrated towards the emptier back area.

"That's...not regular fog," Clarke began. "Is it?"

"No, I don't think so," Lexa replied softly.

A few minutes passed before the kid tired herself out and fell asleep in her father's arms. He sat and watched her, looking deeply in thought.

"I'm going to go look for something to cover the kid with," Lexa said as she stood.

"I'll come with you," Clarke followed.

Most people were still up front, staring curiously out into the mist. Finn stood somewhere not too far off with a crowd of people who were listening to him in rapt attention. Octavia, Murphy and Bellamy were among them.

Clarke followed Lexa as she walked into the storage area next to the fridges. The sign on the door was a bright red _Employees Only_.

"I feel like I'm breaking the rules," Clarke joked.

"You're a regular rebel," Lexa snorted.

The sound of the trudging generator met them as the door closed behind them

"What's that smell?" Clarke asked as she looked around.

"I think something's wrong with the generator," Lexa said and covered her nose as she walked closer to it.

The smell of fuel was almost too strong and she had to pull her collar up to her nose as she got closer, Clarke stayed back and did the same. The emergency lights didn't help them a lot but she could just make out a few things. Stacks of boxed merchandise were scattered about and to her left an extinguisher and fire ax were mounted on the wall in glass cases. Not much else was there except the generator itself on the right.

Lexa unlatched the gate separating the room from the generator and walked in.

"Careful," Clarke called out.

Clouds of smoke were keeping most of it from their view but Lexa could make out the exhaust pipe that ran out through a hole in the wall.

"I think something's blocking the exhaust from the outside," Lexa said and flipped a switch to shut it off. It made a mess of choking and popping sounds before dying out.

"Shit," Clarke muttered as the emergency lights faded out and they were left in darkness. Lexa tried to walk back but bumped into the gate, then tripped on one of the boxes and fell hitting her head on the floor.

"Fuck," she groaned as she rubbed at it.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Clarke called anxiously.

"I ran into the door and tripped, I'm okay," Lexa said and stood slowly.

"What was that?" Clarke whispered.

"What—" Lexa went to ask but suddenly she heard it as well. A soft sliding sound was resounding through the storage area, one that wasn't coming from the market but closer to the loading dock doors. From outside.

"Lexa I swear to God if you're trying to freak me out I'm breaking up with you," Clarke said as she stepped towards where she last saw the other girl.

Lexa didn't answer as the sound started up again, slipping and sliding around, scraping over concrete. She had that feeling that most only get in the dark. The feeling that something was going to creep up her leg and pull her away and it made her stomach tighten in knots. The sound kept coming, this time she was positive it was from the outside. She unfroze and ran towards the sliver of light she could make out from the door, crashing into Clarke they both went tumbling back in to the market. Lexa held on to her and quickly righted them.

Anya and Monty, who'd been standing outside the door jumped back in surprise.

"Lexa, what the hell—" Anya yelled before she got a look at her face. "What's wrong with you?"

"Did you hear it?" Lexa asked in a strained voice and Clarke realized with rising trepidation that she hadn't been messing with her. "Did you?"

"What? No, I was trying to see what happened with the generator," Anya said. Jasper came trotting up to them with an arm full of flashlights. He looked at all of them curiously.

"I turned it off," Lexa said and explained why.

"What did you hear?" Monty asked curiously.

"I don't know, a scraping noise, something slithering," she replied.

"It's probably just your head playing tricks on you," Anya dismissed.

"No, I heard it too," Clarke jumped in.

"Did you hear it before the lights went out?" Jasper asked.

"No," Lexa sighed. She saw the way they were looking at them. Their minds had been made up, they didn't want any more bad news. Only Monty looked as if he might believe them.

"Let's go in and start it up again," Anya said as she took a flashlight from Jasper. He handed out the rest, even offering two to Lexa and Clarke. They hesitated before grabbing them.

"I still need that cover," Lexa muttered.

Anya pushed the door and propped it open with a box, letting in some light. The box Lexa had tripped over was on it's side with bottles of bleach spilled out of it.

"You were probably right to shut it down," Anya said as she took in the smell. They all filed in after her and flashlight beams roamed around revealing the smoke in the air. Lexa trained hers on the wide loading door for a moment before moving on.

Anya and Monty walked into the generator compartment and Jasper got closer to the loading door, waving his light around it.

"You probably shouldn't go near that," Clarke told him.

"I probably shouldn't do a lot of things," he replied cheekily and Lexa rolled her eyes.

"Try it now," Monty said and the generator huffed then roared to life.

"Fuck," Anya cursed and shut it down again.

Jasper walked over to them as they came back out.

"You were right, something's plugging the exhaust," Monty coughed.

"If you guys get it running long enough for me to raise the loading door, I'll go out and clear whatever it is," Jasper said rakishly and bright eyed.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Jas," Monty spoke up.

"You worry too much," Jasper said rolling his eyes.

"Jasper," Monty tried again and they started bickering back and forth.

"Shut up!" Lexa yelled, she could hear the slithering noise again. She grabbed Clarke's hand and held it tightly.

Everyone looked at her.

"You're not stupid Jasper, but you're sure as hell trying to be. There's something up with that fog. Have you noticed nobody's come in to the market since it hit? If you open that door and something comes in—"

"Something like what?" he scoffed.

"Whatever the hell made the noise we heard," Clarke answered.

"You guys didn't hear anything!" Jasper exclaimed. "Just because you strut around school acting better than everyone else doesn't mean you actually are, _princess_. The dark was playing tricks on both of you," he sneered.

"Maybe it was," Clarke said angrily. "And maybe if you want to start fucking around outside, you should make sure that lady got home safe to her kids." His attitude was starting to get to her and that light in his eyes could only mean trouble.

"When I want your advice, I'll be sure to ask for it," he rolled his eyes.

"Hey," Monty spoke up awkwardly as Anya watched everyone stoically. "The generator isn't that important, we've got enough flashlights and—"

"So I'm going out," Jasper interrupted brusquely. "Monty, start the generator, Anya—" She looked at him unflinchingly and he swallowed hard. "Miss Anya—Sir, can you raise the door so I can go out and everyone doesn't pass out? Not that I'd mind," he muttered the last bit. "I'll yell when it's clear."

"This is crazy," Lexa said with a head shake. "You couldn't even escort that lady—"

"Why don't you just shut the fuck up _commander_ ," he spat. A flush rose up his neck and he had a look on his face that said he couldn't quite believe he'd just yelled at her, someone he was usually intimidated by. Lexa rolled her eyes and clenched her jaw but didn't protest further.

Monty looked terrified as he glanced at Lexa, then Clarke but they just shrugged. Lexa figured this problem was straight forward enough for Jasper to wrap his head around, unlike the ones happening outside. This was something he could solve and he was desperately trying to cling to that.

Monty sighed uneasily before walking back to the generator. "Are you sure—"

"Just start it Monty," Jasper said exasperated.

"This is a mistake," Clarke muttered and Lexa squeezed her hand in agreement. They watched Jasper get closer to the door, then turn back green faced like he was going to say he'd been kidding but the generator cut him off. Anya hesitated for a moment before walking over to the red button by the door and pressing it. The emergency lights flickered on before dimming significantly as the door rattled open.

Bleak white light and the acrid smell from earlier permeated the storage area as the door rose slowly. Anya stopped it when the opening was about four feet.

The fog was thick enough that nothing other than a few feet of concrete could be seen outside. It trickled inside slowly and let in an oddly cool breeze causing a few of them to tense up. The generator sputtered off and Monty came back over to them.

Jasper was just ducking under the door when everyone saw it.

A tentacle crawled along the concrete and grabbed Jasper by the thigh. Monty let out a horrified scream as Jasper desperately held onto the edge of the door before yanking himself back in. The tentacle bulged grotesquely before yanking him back and he smacked his hands against the door and hung on tightly.

"Help!" he cried. "Help me! _Help me!_ "

"What the fuck," Octavia said as she walked into the storage area to see what was going on. She accidentally kicked the box keeping it open and the heavy door slammed shut behind her.

Anya and Lexa unfroze together at the sound and lunged for Jasper. They each grabbed one of his arms and yanked hard. They stumbled back briefly but then almost in an elastic manner, Jasper sprung back away from them. Two more tentacles appeared from the fog and wiggled into the storage area. One of them jerked forward and grabbed at a random box, squeezed tightly before pulling it out and disappearing into the mist.

Anya and Lexa held on fast and tried pulling harder on him but it backfired, one of his shoulders popped, dislocating and Jasper screamed. Anya rearranged her hands as fast as she could to hold him from under his arms as Lexa stumbled back, accidentally releasing him when it happened. The side of the other tentacle brushed against her before it quickly wrapped around her calf and pulled. She fell on her back and her head bounced off the concrete as it tried to pull her out. Almost immediately, she felt someone tugging at her.

Octavia had jumped in and grabbed her under her arms and was struggling to keep her inside, Lexa was helping as best she could in her dazed state with her one free leg. Jasper kept screaming bloody murder as he wept.

"Turn on the fucking generator!" Clarke shouted as she shoved at Monty roughly until he stumbled over to it, then she ran over to the fire ax case and used her momentum to break the glass with her elbow.

"Any time now," Anya grunted as droves of sweat started falling from her face and neck. Jasper was flailing and scratching at her hands as if to hold on tighter but it was only making it harder for her to hang on to him. Octavia and Lexa were fairing much better but they too were sweating up a storm as they frantically scrambled to stay inside.

"There's more coming!" Lexa yelled as the generator sputtered. She could barely make out the shadow of what had to be fifty tentacles closing in from the mist.

"It's not working!" Monty screamed.

"Keep fucking trying!" Clarke yelled ran over and heaved the ax over her head and let it drop, slicing off the tentacle that had Lexa. The thing released her before it sizzled and spurted out black goop, flopping around like a fish out of water as Lexa and Octavia tripped back.

Clarke quickly went over it quickly and did the same for the one that had Jasper. Anya and him stumbled in but she didn't fall, she held onto him and set him on the ground. The generator suddenly roared to life and Clarke lunged for the red button and the door clattered, rolling down slower than anyone was comfortable with. After what felt like an eternity it finally sealed.

The generator fell silent, leaving only the forgotten flashlights on the floor to light the place. The only sounds were harsh breaths and Jasper's desperate pleading.

"I'm sorry," he choked out. "I didn't know, how was I suppose to know? You said you heard something but I didn't know what you meant, you should have said what you meant—" Anya slapped him hard and he sputtered off into pained crying, tears and snot rolling down his face as he held on tightly to his loose arm.

The slithering sound came back only this time it was multiplied by a hundred. Squirming tentacles scrapping around outside trying to get in.

Clarke let the ax fall out of her grip with a loud clang and rushed over to Lexa.

"Are you okay?" she asked dropping to her knees and pulling Lexa's head onto her thighs. The sound of retching behind them made them all flinch and turn. Monty was bent over a box emptying his stomach into it. Octavia got up and walked over to help him. Clarke settled her eyes onto Jasper and would've lunged at him if Lexa hadn't pulled at her arm. They shared a look and Clarke sighed before helping her girlfriend sit up.

"Got any more bright ideas?" Anya grunted as she looked at the mess Jasper had become.

"I didn't know," he muttered weakly and kept sobbing. Clarke sighed loudly before getting up and walking over to him.

"This is going to hurt," she said grabbing onto his limp arm. Anya held him down with both of her arms, roughly impeding him on his back as he began to protest. She knew what Clarke was about to attempt.

"What are you doing!" he yelled and tried to fight Anya off but she wouldn't budge. He screamed as Clarke started slowly pulling his arm away from him. It popped back into place and he let out a rush of air at the dulling pain. Anya shoved herself away from him and stood up as Clarke walked back over to Lexa.

"You might want to ice that, put it in a sling if you find one," Clarke added reluctantly as she helped Lexa who was still a little dazed from the knocks to her head, stand up.

"Thank you," he mumbled but Clarke ignored him. Monty heaved again and Octavia rubbed his back looking away.

"I'm gonna take him to the bathroom to wash up," Octavia said helping Monty up.

"O, don't say anything to anyone okay?" Lexa rasped and she nodded before they left the storage. Extra light came in and Lexa saw an old quilted blanket on top of one of the boxes. She slowly walked over to it and grabbed it, Clarke had wrapped an arm around her waist and was helping her move around.

"An," Lexa said and gestured to Jasper, who'd settled into a sort of glassy eyed, shocked state. Anya nodded and roughly pulled Jasper up by his collar. He yelped and she dragged him out of the storage.

"Lex," Clarke whispered.

"I know," she sighed and they hugged each other tightly until Anya came back. She started collecting the flashlights and turned all but one off before coming to stand close to them.

"Dropped him off in the pharmacy aisle, he was still pretty out of it," she said at Clarke's questioning look. She let the light point at the ceiling so they'd be able to see each other and Lexa let out a shuddering breath.

"We have to...we've got to let everyone know what we saw," Lexa finally got out.

"That'll cause panic," Anya said rubbing at her forehead. A tension headache was starting to form.

"It'll make them think twice about going out," Clarke realized and Lexa nodded.

"Yeah, which is what most of them want to do and why shouldn't they? Most of them have—they have _families_ and people they left at home. We have to make them understand what they're risking."

"Oh god, my mom," Clarke let out a single sob. "My mom was home when I left— I can't..." she trailed off and Lexa held her tighter.

"Try your cell," Anya said. Clarke quickly pulled it out and dialed. It didn't even ring once before starting an annoying three ring pitch on loop.

"There's no service," Clarke said hanging up. "Fuck."

Anya nodded like she'd known that was going to happen before talking again. "Okay, we'll tell them. I just keep thinking...all those tentacles. What the hell were they attached to?"

"I don't know, but we have to tell them now. Before Jasper snaps out of it and starts telling people. _That_ would cause panic," Lexa said.

"Let's go then," Clarke said and they all shuffled towards the door.

"What we saw was impossible, you guys know that right?" Anya said right before they reached the door. "Even if it was...a squid or whatever it wouldn't be possible."

"I know," Lexa said.

"So what happened? What the hell is that mist?"

"I don't know An," Lexa said. "I just don't know."

Anya held the door open and they all exited the storage area with weary sighs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things slow down for a second. Kind of.

Lexa left Clarke and Anya outside the storage area and walked towards the bear man and his kid.

"Here," she offered him the old quilt. He stared for a second before taking it from her.

"Thank you," he rasped and went about making his daughter more comfortable. Lexa nodded and walked back over to the girls. Anya handed her a beer she'd procured from the shut off fridges behind her, her and Clarke were already drinking one each. Lexa took it without question and cracked it open. It fizzed and overflowed onto her hand as she gulped it down, ignoring the taste that she usually hated.

"We were only in there about twenty minutes," Clarke said as she set her empty can on one of the shelves and reached for another one. Lexa finished her own and put it on the shelf before leaning against it. Clarke walked up to her and rested her back on Lexa's front, sipping on her second can.

"Felt longer," Lexa sighed and wrapped her arms around Clarke, pulling her closer. Anya let them have a moment before speaking up.

"What the hell are we going to say to these people?"

"The truth," Lexa said. "If we don't, more people like...like Jasper and that woman will want to go out."

"Fuck, this is a mess," Clarke muttered and reached around to put her can behind Lexa on the shelf. She didn't think she could stomach any more alcohol at that moment. She settled her hands on Lexa's and laced their fingers together.

"What if..." Anya hesitated before going on. "What if they get in?"

"What?" Clarke asked tiredly.

"What if the tentacles get in? We shut the dock but...the entire front wall is plate glass," she finished. Clarke and Lexa tensed and their stomachs dropped as they were suddenly reminded. _The entire fucking front wall was plate glass._

"Fucking hell," Lexa breathed out and shut her eyes tightly.

"Wait here," Anya said after a moment and walked away. Clarke turned around in Lexa's arms and watched her open her slightly blood shot eyes.

"How are you holding up, really," Clarke asked. After all, Lexa had been seconds away from being pulled out into the mist by some giant squid monstrosity.

"Hanging in there," Lexa said with a small smile. Clarke leaned their foreheads together with a sigh.

"I guess I am too," she whispered. "Lex..." she started but was interrupted by voices coming closer to them. They both looked up as Anya walked in front of Finn in their direction. Bellamy trailed behind him and of course, Murphy behind him. They all stopped and formed a rough circle around Lexa and Clarke who reluctantly pulled apart and stood side by side holding hands.

"What's this about? Where's Octavia?" Bellamy asked immediately.

"She's with Monty," Clarke responded.

"What happened to that man who came in with the broken nose," Anya asked. "The one who said something in the mist took that kid."

"Atom," Murphy supplied and rolled his eyes when she ignored him.

"He passed out and someone brought him around with smelling salts from the first aid kit," Finn answered. "Why?"

"What did he say when he woke up?" Lexa asked.

"He was fucked up," Murphy said, crossing his arms. "Ranting about some pretty crazy hallucinations. That cashier chick, Maya, set him up in the manager's office. He seemed pretty happy about it, said something about glass when she warned him there were no windows in there. He's probably still there."

"He wasn't hallucinating," Clarke said and squeezed Lexa's hand hard enough to leave nail indents.

"What?" Bellamy asked, he was looking at them like he expected someone to tell him they were pulling a prank.

"That's crazy," Finn added as he wore that bemused expression again.

"You see that door over there," Anya asked gesturing to the large metal door several feet behind her.

"What about it?" he asked.

"It opens into the storage area," she started and quickly filled them in on what went down.

"That's ridiculous," Finn scoffed. Bellamy and Murphy looked at them like they thought they might've been drinking more than just beer.

"Okay," Clarke said. "Why don't we all go back there. There's a few tentacles on the floor, I cut them off myself and you can hear them shifting around outside."

Bellamy dawned a serious look and crossed his arms. Murphy started shifting uneasily.

"No," Finn said.

"What?" Lexa asked incredulously.

"This is stupid, I'm not going back there," Finn told them and crossed his arms.

"This isn't a joke," Anya said.

"Of course it fucking is!" he snorted.

"They're not lying, I saw them too," Octavia joined them sans Monty.

"Where have you been?" Bellamy exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"I was with them when it happened, Bell."

"You're all insane," Finn exclaimed throwing his hands up.

"Let's go have a look then," Murphy said amused.

"I'm not going back there," Finn said.

"Why not? Afraid we're telling the truth?" Octavia goaded.

"Fucking crazy," he muttered and went to leave but Bellamy stopped him by grabbing his shirt and pulling him back in place. He didn't try to leave again even though it was obvious he still wanted to.

Anya's original intention had been to get these people to believe them so they'd have more people on their side. That plan was shot to hell.

"Hey!" Anya yelled and her voice resounded throughout the store. " _Listen up, I need everyone to come back here! This concerns all of you!_ "

Clarke winced at her volume before Octavia joined in. " _Come over here, assholes! There's something important you need to know!_ "

"What the hell are you doing?" Finn hissed as people started coming over to see what the commotion was about.

"Manager lady's got something to tell you," Octavia yelled. "You'd better listen up if you were planning on running out of the Ark half assed."

About two dozen people had crowded some ways away from them, looking tense and jittery like they were waiting for a fight to break out.

"All yours," Octavia said. Anya told them the same thing she had the boys and there was scattered laughter for a moment before it died out and uneasiness filled its place.

"They're lying," Finn said. "Where are you saying those _tentacles_ came from exactly?"

"We don't know, that's not the point," Clarke said frustrated. "They're out there—"

"That's the beer talking," Finn scoffed, never mind the fact that he knew Clarke was no lightweight. The few laughs he got were cut off by a strong voice.

"Death!" Jaha said as he walked through the crowd to stand at the center. A few people shrank away from him.

"You're listening but you're not hearing! You're hearing but you're not believing! Which one of you wants to go outside and see for yourself?" His beady eyes scanned the crowd before landing on Clarke. "And just what exactly do you propose we do about it, Ms. Griffin? What exactly do you think you and your troublemaker girlfriend can do about it?"

He grinned arrogantly when she only ground her teeth. "It's the end, I'm telling you now. The end of everything. It's the Last Times. The moving finger has writ, not in fire, but in lines of mist. The Earth has opened and spewed forth its abominations—"

"Shut him up, he's scaring the kids," someone yelled.

"They'll be even more scared when the foul creatures the imp has loosed upon the face of the Earth come for them—"

"That's enough, Mr. Jaha," Bellamy cut in, pulling at his arm.

"Listen to me! It's the end, I'm telling you! It's death!"

"It's a pile of shit," Murphy said disgustedly.

"I saw it myself," Lexa spoke up. "I know it sounds crazy but we're telling the truth."

"I saw it too," added Anya.

"And me," Octavia chipped in.

Bellamy had succeeded in keeping Jaha quiet but he stood close and watched them all with twinkling eyes. No one wanted to stand too close to him but muttering had started and spread around the crowd, some even glanced at the big windows up front.

"Lies," Finn said. "You're all fucking liars."

"It's beyond belief," a man from the crowd added.

"Come into the back with me and take a look for yourselves. Listen for yourselves," Anya offered.

"All right, let's get it over with," Murphy said. Anya led him, Bellamy, and two others back into the storage area but Finn stayed behind, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all.

Whispering broke out and Clarke and Lexa leaned heavily, exhaustedly on each other. The day felt like it was never going to end.

A few minutes passed by, not even five, before the storage door opened again and everyone trickled out. Ashen faces and trembling fingers went around when Bellamy and a few others nodded their confirmation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hakeldama was brutal.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one's dumb enough to go out without a plan, right?

The hours began to pass in a haze as the crowd scattered and discussed the verification they'd received.

"Isn't it pretty straight forward? There's a giant fucking squid monster outside and we've got the tentacles out back to prove it," Lexa said lowly, almost sardonically. Their group had dispersed and her and Clarke sat side by side on the floor again, leaning against a shelf. People around them were murmuring worriedly to each other, wandering around aimlessly.

"They're trying to make sense of everything, trying to see it from every possible point of view. At least most of them are," Clarke said. She was eyeing Finn who was some distance away and had managed to gather a group of about fifteen who still refused to believe anything they said.

"They're wasting time, we should be working together to—to, I don't know! Figure out our next movie or _something_ ," Lexa said and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. She didn't understand how they could be so stubborn when faced with all the facts. Clarke took her hand in her own and laced their fingers together.

"It's like... those people from a long time ago that thought the Earth was flat. Even when all evidence pointed against them, they refused to believe anything else. They thought they were being duped or something. Hell, there are still people _today_ who think the Earth is flat. Unironically," Clarke explained and Lexa snorted.

"So what, they're Flat-Earthers then?" Lexa gestured towards Finn and his group.

"The Flat-Earth Society," Clarke added and let out startled giggle, Lexa caught a case of them too.

"Sorry," Clarke said when tear leaked out of her eye. She couldn't hold back a sob as she wiped it away.

"Come here," Lexa pulled her close and wrapped her arms around her. They weren't laughing anymore.

"It's just kind of hitting me, you know? My mom's still out there. She's still out there and I left the house without saying goodbye, without—without telling her I love her," Clarke choked out. She took a deep breath and wiped away the few tears that had escaped. Lexa tightened her hold and Clarke shifted to rest her head on Lexa's shoulder. She didn't say anything, didn't really know what to say but Clarke knew she understood.

Raised voices drew their attention away from their bubble.

"There are only five witnesses! Four of which are probably drunk right now," Finn said.

Bellamy had apparently approached him and tried to reason with him. He and Murphy had seemed pretty convinced after they saw the tentacles.

"Fine," it was Murphy who spoke up as he joined the argument. "There's a bunch of those empty glass bottles of beer and soda outside somewhere by the dock door. Why don't you go out the front door and around to the back and bring a few back. You do that and I'll eat my entire shoe."

Finn shook his head and rolled his eyes. He began to say something but Clarke cut him off with her voice only loud enough so he could hear her.

"You're not helping anyone with the way you're acting, Finn. If anything, it's actually becoming pretty damaging. There're people here that want to go home and make sure their families are okay. My mom's still at home, you don't think I'd like to go and check on her? I do, you have no idea, but if people start believing you and try to leave, to go home, what almost happened to Lexa and Jasper is going to happen to them."

Finn didn't listen to her but a few from his group, ones that hadn't been too deep in denial, walked away from him.

Lexa thought she caught a look on Finn's face, almost as if he believed his sanity depended on not being convinced. Whatever the case, he didn't take Murphy up on his offer. No one did, they weren't ready to go out there, at least not yet. Finn stomped away, his Flat-Earth crew (now down a few members) right behind him. They passed everyone and set up shop in the back by the meat department.

With them out of the way, another argument broke lose.

"There's no defense against the will of God," Jaha said loudly. He sat cross-legged on one of the checkout conveyor belts, his hands neatly pressed onto his knees. "This has been coming. I have seen the signs. There are those here that I have told, but there are none so blind as those who will not see."

"What exactly are you proposing," Jasper called out. Clarke and Lexa were slightly startled to see him leaning heavily on one of the shelves. His hair was matted to his forehead with sweat and his eyes were bloodshot. He was sipping on a beer and Monty was beside him, eyeing him as if he'd collapse any second.

"Proposing?" Jaha echoed and turned his gaze onto Jasper. "Proposing? Why, I'm proposing you prepare to meet your God, Jasper Jordan." His gaze traveled around to everyone. "Prepare to meet your God!"

"Prepare to meet shit," Murphy said. He drank from a bottle of vodka he was holding and passed it to Bellamy. "Exactly what level of crazy is too much for you? I'm just curious."

A few people nodded as if backing him up and Clarke and Lexa finally stood up.

"Doubters will doubt to the end! Yet a monstrosity did almost drag these kids away! Things in the mist! Every abomination out of a bad dream! Eyeless freaks! Pallid horrors! Do you still doubt? Then go on out! Go on out and tell them we say hello!"

"You need to stop, you're scaring my kid," bear man spoke up. He held his daughter in his arms with her face hidden against his neck.

"There's only one chance," Jaha ignored him.

"What's that, sir?" Jasper asked.

"A sacrifice," Jaha replied with a slight grin. "A blood sacrifice."

His words hung around the store like a bad smell.

"Like...like one of the dogs wondering around in here?" Jasper asked. Clarke frowned, he actually looked like he was considering it. Jaha opened his mouth to say something else but Octavia was suddenly beside him and punched him across the face.

"Shut up," she rasped. Bellamy hurried over and pulled his sister aside.

"Calm down O," he whispered.

Jaha put his hand up to his mouth then held it out to everyone accusingly. Blood was dripping off of it as well as his nose and his eyes gleamed.

"You had it coming," Lexa told him.

"They'll get a hold of you," Jaha said, showing off his bloody hand. "Not today, maybe. Tonight. Tonight when the dark comes. They'll come with the night and take someone. You'll hear them coming, creeping and crawling. And when they come, you'll beg for me to show you what to do."

Octavia jerked forward as if to lunge at him again but Bellamy held her back.

"You come on and hit me," he whispered and grinned with his teeth coated in blood. "Hit me if you dare." Octavia stood stoically and didn't try to get passed her brother again. Jaha got up and walked away by himself.

Bear man's little girl began to cry.

"I want to go home, I want to see mommy..." The man rocked her back and forth and whispered to her.

"So, how about those windows," Anya sighed as she walked over to Lexa and Clarke. She'd been standing aside watching everything go down until that point.

"Obvious weak point," Bellamy said as he joined the circle with Murphy and Octavia. "What else?"

"Just the entrance and the loading dock door," Lexa said.

"So what are we gonna do about the windows then?" Octavia asked. "Jaha might be batshit fucking insane but he could be right about something moving in after dark."

"The fog could be gone by then," Murphy said crossing his arms.

"It could, but what if it's not?" Lexa asked and they all shifted restlessly.

"We could set up the rest of the fertilizer and lawn food bags from aisle ten like sandbags against the windows. Maybe leave holes to see outside," Octavia said.

"That won't really help if the squid thing comes around," Murphy told her.

"It'll give people peace of mind. Something to do," Clarke reasoned.

"Sure," Bellamy said. "Anyone got any guns?" he called out deliberately and several people started wandering closer to listen to what they were saying.

"I have a shotgun in my car," a man yelled.

"Nyko," Anya warned.

"I can try to get it, nobody else would have to go out," he replied.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lexa said.

"The offer still stands," he told them.

"Alright," Anya sighed. "We keep a pistol in the safe, a thirty-eight. I'll go get it," she said and walked away.

"This may be a stupid question but...you guys have any blowtorches here?" Bellamy asked.

"Fuck," Lexa sighed. "We had some until last week, the type used to fix pipes but only about two sold so we sent the rest back."

"Damn," he muttered. Anya came back a moment later with a small case that they assumed held the gun.

"We can use matches to light up a few mops if it comes to it," Octavia supplied.

"We can use salt to ward off the demons!" a man yelled, then blushed and looked down when everyone just stared at him.

"Lets go then," Bellamy said breaking the awkward silence. He led everyone except Clarke, Lexa and Anya to look for the items they needed.

"The mops could make good torches, with some twine and lighter fluid or something," Anya said. The other two nodded and they all lapsed into silence.

It was afternoon by the time the fertilizer and lawn food bags were in place. They'd been arranged to block out the big windows with a few holes where they could see out into the mist. Bellamy had taken to his assumed leadership position and started assigning watchmen to the holes. Octavia supplied them with Anya's improved mop torches and a can of lighter fluid each.

Lexa and Clarke sat on a pile of bags in front of one of the openings..

"There's moisture in it," Lexa commented as they watched the mist swirling slowly and heavily.

Clarke hummed looking deep in thought.

"What is it?" Lexa finally asked her.

"I'm just thinking...why hasn't anyone come looking for us?"

"What?"

"We've been here for hours and nobody's come, no family members, worried friends, not even any search and rescue teams or whatever," Clarke explained and ran a hand through her hair. "It makes me wonder about what's out there even more, the squid can't be the only thing."

"This is hell," Lexa muttered and frowned in thought.

"Are we suppose to just wait it out?"

"I don't know," Lexa sighed. Clarke reached over and grabbed her hand.

"I hope my mom's okay," Clarke said after a moment. She tasted salt in her throat and her voice almost trembled but she swallowed the feeling down.

"I hope we come out of this okay," Lexa whispered and they watched on in silence.

The bags that covered most of the windows made it darker than it should've been in the market and in only a handful of hours Anya was distributing the rest of the stock of flashlights. Lexa and Clarke were still on watch when they heard arguing coming from the back of the store.

"You're insane if you go out there!" someone shouted, Clarke noted it sounded like Monty.

"Let us through!" Jasper was heard next.

A few people got up from their watchmen posts and walked over to see what was happening.

"Jasper don't do this," Monty cried. "Please, let's just talk this through."

"There's nothing to talk about!" Jasper yelled as he came into view with his hair in disarray and his eyes still glassy. Clarke and Lexa watched as he approached the front waving a flashlight around. They recognized seven Flat-Earthers with him, the rest of them came to a stop with Finn at the edge of the crowd that was forming. 

"We're going out," Jasper stated loudly.

"This is crazy Jas," Monty whispered but everyone heard him.

"Jasper what the hell," Bellamy stepped in front of him but Jasper pushed him away as best he could.

"Do what you want," Bellamy said nonplussed. "But don't take all of these people with you. You're going to get them killed."

Lexa, Clarke and Octavia wandered over to Monty.

"He kept talking about what Mr. Jaha said," Monty told them. "He was asking...he kept asking people to go out with him, to go find help but no one except the people with Finn would listen to him."

They watched as Jasper ignored Bellamy who shook his head and walked over to stand by his sister. Murphy materialized and stood beside him.

"We'll send back help for you," Jasper continued.

"You're putting yourselves in danger," Lexa addressed his followers but only one who appeared almost gray in the face quietly slipped away leaving six.

"You can't go out there," Octavia tried.

"What are you going to do? Tie us up?" Jasper asked loudly. There was no reply for a moment before Anya spoke up.

"We're not going to stop you if you do something for me," she said, holding a cellophane package.

"What?" Jasper asked eyeing her suspiciously. Everyone in the market had gathered around loosely, watching them intently.

"Let me tie one of the ends of this around your waist," Anya said as she tore the bag open and pulled out a clothesline.

"Why?"

"It'll tell us you got at least three hundred feet," she told him.

"Fine," he conceded. The sparkle in his eyes was gone, almost as if he knew something they didn't.

Anya nodded as she walked over to him and tied one end of the clothesline securely around his waist. Monty shifted uneasily, almost as if he was going to follow him and Octavia put a hand on his shoulder to hold him still.

"You want my knife?" the man named Nyko spoke up and pulled out a pocket knife. Jasper nodded and the man handed it to him.

"I'll cut the line if it gets stuck," Jasper warned and Anya nodded again.

"Ready?" he asked his followers and there were scattered nods.

"Jas..." Monty tried again.

"We'll send back help," Jasper said looking directly at him, then quickly turned and pushed through the entrance. The odd, unpleasant smell came in again and the others followed him out. Anya held the door open with her foot as Clarke and Lexa walked over to help her untangle and feed the line.

Jasper's party stood in the slothful, milky fog. Like the lady from before, they didn't so much disappear as much as seemed to be slowly consumed by the fog. Clarke thought she saw Jasper moving his mouth but she didn't hear anything. Then they were out of view in the thick mist.

Anya paid the line out as Lexa and Clarke made sure it didn't tangle. A quarter went out, then half, then it stopped going out. They collectively held their breath as it didn't move for maybe ten seconds. Then it jerked and ran out five feet, it pulled violently to the left and the girls held on tightly as a few people gasped. Twenty feet of rope suddenly pulled out, burning their hands.

A scream was heard, high and crackling coming from the fog. The rope jerked again, and again, left and right, then back again. A few more feet went out followed by a loud howl. Someone in the store whimpered when the howl cut off and a moment of silence happened. Another scream was heard from outside, this time with actual words.

" _Get it the fuck off!_ " They heard. " _Get it off! Get it off!_ " Then that was cut off as well.

More of the rope ran out abruptly, burning them more, then it slackened. Another sound came, something low and grunting. It came again then again in a lower tone, then it was quiet.

"Close the door," Bellamy said. "Close the fucking door!"

"Wait, reel it in," Lexa said tensely and started pulling at the rope, the other two helping after a second.

It came and came and suddenly turned red and wet and there was no more.

"Death!" Jaha yelled. "It's death to go out! Do you see now?"

The end of the line was covered in blood and looked chewed up and frayed. No one said anything and Anya let the door swing shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was hell to edit for some reason holy shit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first night.

Quint the butcher, as he'd introduced himself, had set up a gas grill under one of the small exhaust fans and after a while the smell of cooking chicken filled the market. Although the smell was mouthwatering, not many people felt up to eating. Still, Quint the butcher methodically grilled his chicken and laid the pieces two by two on paper plates and lined them up on the counter.

Lexa brought two of the plates over, adding a few candy bars and water bottles. She handed Clarke one of them and they sat huddled together in a secluded corner off to the side of the registers.

"I don't know if I can eat," Clarke admitted.

Lexa didn't feel much like eating either but they had to keep their strength up, and she told Clarke as much.

Quint the butcher, for his part, continued cooking chicken, not minding his surroundings.

Everyone sat in groups except Thelonious Jaha, who sat alone at one end of the medicine aisle. Anya was up front watching the mist, eating chicken and drinking beer. A few other people had been assigned to the holes but Anya had gone up there willingly. They each had a mop torch close by but they didn't seem as hopeful about their usefulness anymore. Not after the screams—not after the bloody clothesline.

"How bad do you think it'll be tonight," Lexa murmured, eating slowly.

"I don't know," Clarke replied.

Lexa let out a strangled sound that was a cross between a frustrated sigh and a mournful sob, the events of the day finally dawning on her and sapping almost all the strength she had left. She quickly placed a hand over her mouth as if to keep any more sounds from escaping.

Clarke silently set both of their plates aside and pulled Lexa close until they were tangled and leaning against each other.

At around eight, a new group of watchmen took over the holes and Anya came over to where they were sitting. She took a long drink of her beer before she set it aside and looked intently at the both of them. A moment passed before she spoke up.

"There are things moving outside."

"What do you mean?" Lexa asked, startled.

"I'm not sure what but I asked a few of the other watchers and they all said the same thing. Part of the fog goes dark for a minute, sometimes in small places—sometimes in big ones, like bruises, then it goes away."

"How sure are you that you weren't seeing things," Clarke asked eyeing the beer.

"I'm not drunk," Anya said. "I'm sure of what I saw. I think he was right about one thing," she said nodding towards Jaha, who was eating his chicken with enthusiasm and drinking what could've been either tomato juice or blood. "We'll found out when it gets darker."

They didn't have to wait that long.

"Jesus!" a man yelled from his watch post. Something had landed on the glass outside of his hole. _"Jesus fuck!"_   he screamed and scrambled up the far aisle, running as fast as his shaking legs could carry him to get away from the windows.

There were answering startled screams and some people ran toward the front to see what had happened. A lot more shuffled towards the back, not wanting to see what it was.

They sat still, Anya with her hand in the pocket that held her gun. Another cry was heard, much more appalled than the last.

Lexa got up and walked over to survey the scene, Clarke clutching her hand, and Anya right behind them.

"What the hell is that?" Clarke gasped.

They couldn't tell what the thing was exactly, but it looked to be over two feet tall. A bit closer up they could see it was glossy, pink and segmented.

The creature looked almost comical, like something you'd buy at the store to prank your siblings.

Bulbous eyes moved around like a chameleon's and it clung to the window with it’s suction cup-like legs. What seemed to be a stinger protruded from its other end and the large, transparent wings on its back flapped slowly as the girls approached the glass. More of the creatures began appearing through the other holes and moved sluggishly, leaving trails of slime in their wake.

They crawled all over the glass like maggots on a piece of rotting meat and it was more than likely that they were all over the building.

Lexa felt her stomach lurch and the small amount of chicken she’d eaten earlier threatened to make its way back up.

Someone started crying as Jaha started his screaming about abominations. Anya took her gun out of her pocket and Lexa immediately grabbed her arm.

She shook it free. "I know what I'm doing," she said and tapped the barrel of the gun on the window, her face twisted in disgust. The speed of the creature's wings increased until they were no longer visible, then it flew away.

A few others had watched her and got the same idea, using the mop handles to tap on the windows. The things flew away, but they came right back like flies. The panic dissolved into chatter and Lexa heard someone ask what would happen if one of those things landed on someone. She tried not to think too hard about that.

The tapping on the windows started to die down and Anya turned to Lexa and started to say something, but before she could even get a sound out something came out of the fog. It began to bruise exactly like Anya had described, only it didn't fade away. It solidified into something with big leather wings, white wrinkly skin and red eyes. It landed hard on the glass making it shudder and opened its beak, scooping up a pink thing then it was gone and someone screamed.

Another thud was heard, then another. People began screaming and stampeding toward the back of the store. A few tripping and falling to the floor.

"That old lady fell, help her!" someone yelled and Anya ran over to them and got lost in the crowd.

"Come on Clarke," Lexa tugged at her hand but Clarke wouldn't budge. She was looking at Bellamy and Murphy who were standing close to the windows.

"Bellamy look out!" she shouted but neither of them heard her. One of the food bags slid off the top of the pile and struck him on the head. Murphy jumped back in shock as he watched Bellamy go down hard and hit his jaw on the floor.

"Bellamy!" Octavia ran up to them. "Murphy I swear to God, help me out you dumbass!" she snarled as she grabbed onto one of Bellamy's arms. Murphy snapped out of it and they both hauled him away toward the back.

"Clarke," Lexa whispered hoarsely to her. "Clarke!" she pulled at her hand.

"What?"

"Look," she stressed and gestured with her head. Clarke looked over and froze.

One of the leathery creatures was squirming its way through the jagged hole in the upper right corner of the glass that had been made by the earlier quake. It's head moved back and forth, it's heavy, hooked beak opened and closed.

Lexa snapped into action first and ran over and grabbed one of the mops. She doused it in lighter fluid before quickly ridding herself of the can but stumbled back bumping into Clarke when she realized she didn't have anything to light it with.

The place was in chaos, the thing had finally gotten in. It swooped down and stood on top of one of the people who'd been knocked out in the stampeding. It paused there and seemed to glare around, then it flexed its claws and they watched in horror as it tore through the man's back. Blood began to spill onto the floor. It darted it's head down and started pecking at the man, tearing out chunks of his skin.

Clarke began tugging at Lexa's shirt trying to pull her away when suddenly the mop Lexa had been holding caught fire. Anya was back and was holding out a lighter, her gun was in her other hand but she didn't have a clear shot. Some people were frozen, staring transfixed at the thing clawing at the man

"Kill it if you can," Anya said, stoically.

The thing spread its wings and flapped them, trying to get a better hold on its prey and more tearing sounds followed.

Lexa quickly walked closer to it and jabbed it hard with her torch. The place of impact dented as easily as paper, then the creature was ablaze. It let out a loud, piercing screech and spread it's wings, jerking its head around in agony. It flapped hard and a few people let out startled screams as everyone watched the flaming dinosaur thing that was suddenly airborne and dropping chunks of ash. It kept flapping until it crashed into a shelf and broke several jars before it collapsed, not moving anymore. The sickening smell of burning flesh filled the market quickly.

Clarke was suddenly gone from Lexa's side.

"Clarke!" Lexa called out but she couldn't see where she'd gone. Her torch was almost out when she noticed one of the pink things had come into the store through the same hole in the glass. She looked around one last time before clenching her teeth and going after it but Clarke beat her to it.

She had a can of Raid in each hand, her face twisted in anger. Holding the cans out she pressed the buttons and thick insect killer coated the bug. It squealed and twisted until it fell on top of the body of the devoured man. It tried to fly away but its body was too heavy with liquid. Its wings slowed, then came to a stop and the sqealing ceased.

Crying and moaning were heard throughout the market, somewhere in the distance the lady who'd been trampled was crying out in pain. Someone let out a stream of anxious laughter as Clarke stood panting over her kill.

Anya and another girl appeared with a stock boy dolly and heaved it over the fertilizer bags to cover the hole in the glass.

Lexa quickly walked over to Clarke and used her extinguished mop to skewer the pink creature. It oozed clear liquid as she carefully picked it up and walked over to the entrance.

"Lex..." Clarke warned as she watched her, setting the cans in her hands on the floor.

"It's okay," Lexa whispered. She opened the door quickly and threw the mop out as hard as she could then let it swing shut. Clarke walked closer and pulled her farther away from the door. They hugged each other tightly, almost desperately, and Lexa let out a shuddering breath.

Some time later they migrated back to the meat department and sat leaning against the counter.  
  
"It's one thirty in the morning," Clarke mumbled. She had her head on Lexa's lap as she stared at her phone. No service. Fifteen percent battery. One thirty AM.

"The day's over," Lexa mumbled and dragged her fingers through Clarke's hair with a sigh.

"Here," Anya said as she walked up to them. She held out two thick, folded cloths.

"Thanks, where'd you get them?" Lexa asked as she took them from her. She set one aside and used the other one to cover Clarke who snuggled deeper into her lap and finally put her phone away.

"Storage, they're moving pads," Anya said shortly and walked away to hand the rest out. Lexa watched her go with a heavy sigh. Anya and another volunteer had moved the body of the man who'd been partially eaten to somewhere in the storage area. She guessed if she'd had to do something like that, she wouldn't feel much like talking either.

After that, Clarke fell asleep but Lexa couldn't manage to drift off. She watched as the supply of alcohol shrunk, then the sleeping aid medication from the pharmacy aisle. Some people, maybe four or five had taken to sitting silently and staring glassy eyed straight ahead. She'd even seen Finn amble passed her without looking back and disappearing down the canned goods aisle at one point. Octavia was somewhere with Monty and Murphy, tending to her brother who'd woken up and was still pretty out of it but they were all out of her line of sight.

Her heart raced when a loud groaning sound came from the mist and Clarke jerked awake startled.

"It's okay," Lexa assured. "You're safe." The sound had been coming on and off for a while but that was the loudest it'd gotten.

"Have you slept at all?" Clarke asked in a thick, sleep heavy voice as she rubbed her face and took in the bags under Lexa's eyes. Lexa hesitated and swallowed hard before she shook her head. Clarke could always tell when she was lying either way.

"Come on," Clarke sighed as she removed the moving pad from herself and spread it out on the floor. She let herself settle on it with her back to the floor and grabbed the other pad to use as a pillow. She stretched her arms out towards Lexa making a grabbing motion.

"Fine," Lexa said with a small smile and settled into her arms. Clarke tightened her hold and pulled her closer.

After a quiet moment Clarke whispered,"I love you."

Lexa looked up at her, half startled. Another moment passed before Lexa finally managed to pull herself together.

"It only took the literal apocalypse," she joked and the grin that dawned on her face was so dorky that Clarke had to smile.

"Don't be a jerk, I've known for a while," Clarke laughed and shoved at her shoulder. The sound instantly made Lexa feel ten times lighter and she cuddled closer to Clarke.

"I love you too," Lexa said softly. Clarke's smile brightened and she pulled her in for a long kiss.

After a while their kisses became almost lazy and they relaxed enough to drift off for another couple of hours before Clarke jerked awake again, waking Lexa with her.

"I'm okay," Clarke sighed. "Okay as I can be while we're still stuck here," she mumbled and settled back down.

Lexa leaned up and placed a kiss on her temple, Clarke closed her eyes with a sighed.

Before they could fall back asleep Anya briskly walked up to them, using her shirt in front of her flashlight to dim the beam. She pointed the weak light directly at their faces.

"An what the hell," Lexa said as they both squeezed their eyes shut at the intrusion.

"Lexa," Anya whispered, tightening her hold on the flashlight.

"What is it?" Lexa asked lowly. She'd never heard that tone of voice come out of her best friend's mouth and it made her chest tighten almost painfully with anxiety.

"Come on, please," Anya said in that same odd voice and gestured behind herself with her head.

Lexa looked at her confused for a second before she nodded and got up. Clarke did as well and Anya eyed her.

"I don't think—" she started but Clarke cut her off.

"I'm coming with you," she said resolutely and Anya didn't argue. Just as quickly as she'd appeared, she began walking away and they trailed behind her. The farther they got from their small sleeping space, the heavier the feeling in Lexa's chest became.

"Fuck, this is never going to end," Lexa mumbled and Clarke linked their fingers and squeezed her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look i'm back haha. this chapter was giving me so much trouble that i had to bring in reinforcements to help me edit part of it, then that ONE episode destroyed my motivation to do anything for a while. luckily i've finally gotten enough distance from it to be 90% anger and 10% sadness. this story is completely written but it was a little too heavy for me to want to edit it or post it with the events that took place. i'll have to warn you though, it only gets darker from here and because i was drowning in tears and needed reassurance from authors, i'll give you the same: neither lexa or clarke will die in any of my stories. keep that in mind in the next few chapters yeah? that is all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dark shit happens, some stuff's hypothesized, and I use the word donut probably excessively.

Clarke and Lexa followed Anya as she headed for the storage area. The flashlight she was carrying was still being dimmed by her shirt but they managed to see her reach out and grab a bottle of some kind of alcohol off a shelf right before they came to a stop in front of the storage door.

"What's going on?" Clarke finally broke the silence.

"I want you to see for yourselves," Anya said simply. She seemed to be mentally preparing herself for something and that immediately made Lexa worry.

After another moment Anya sighed and pushed the heavy door open and they all slipped inside. It slowly shut behind them as she uncovered her flashlight and looked around for a bit before settling the beam. Lexa almost thought she was going to show them something happening with the tentacles; that and thinking of how the body of the man that'd almost been eaten earlier was stashed somewhere nearby was not helping her nerves.

"What..." Clarke started to ask but then she noticed them and the air was sucked right out of her lungs.

"Oh God," Lexa grimaced as she noticed them too and covered her mouth. There were legs. Three pairs of legs dangling about seven inches off the cement floor with three piles of knocked over boxes underneath them.

"Don't scream," Anya said as she put a forearm on each of their shoulders and pointed her flashlight toward the ground, away from the dangling legs.

"The soldiers," Lexa barely got out.

"The ones from Mount Weather, yeah," Anya rasped. "Here," she said and handed Clarke the bottle she'd been carrying. Clarke squinted at the label before deciding it didn't matter and quickly unscrewing the lid as they all turned away from the soldiers. She took a long pull and passed it to Lexa who hesitated for a second before choking down a shot of her.

"I came back to see if I could find any more moving pads. They were just...here. I figure, they must've gotten the nooses ready and stood up on top of those boxes. They must've tied their hands for each other then balanced each other while they stepped through the length of the rope between their wrists. So...so that their hands would be behind them, you know? Then they... I think they stuck their heads into the nooses and pulled them tight by jerking their heads to the side..." Anya trailed off.

"That's...not possible," Clarke mumbled and grabbed the bottle from Lexa to take another burning pull of whatever it was. She probably would've already identified the type of alcohol she was consuming, had she been in a better state of mind.

"If they'd wanted to badly enough..." Anya said, not finishing her thought.

"But why?" Lexa ground out, her fingers twitching to do something— _anything_ to keep her mind off the bodies lurking in the shadows.

"I think you know why. Anyone from around here could take a good guess," Anya said noticing Lexa's struggle but deciding it wouldn't do any good to point it out.

"Mount Weather?" Clarke questioned and handed the bottle to Lexa who capped it, then uncapped it and capped it again repeatedly, twisting the cap between her fingers a few times.

"I hear a lot of things standing at that register all day. Stories about the supposed soldiers that went AWOL a while back, people complaining about how there've been more soldiers around town than ever before. The older soldiers are quiet but you can't keep a secret this big locked up forever, especially with all these new recruits they've been getting. All spring and summer I've been hearing whispers of Mount Weather," Anya told them.

Lexa frowned and finally left the bottle capped and rubbed her forehead in frustration. "What would drive them to do this?"

"I don't know," Anya said softly. "Maybe there was an accident up there. That storm was the biggest we've seen in a while, maybe it knocked something loose. They could've been messing around with anything. Some people claim they were messing with high-intensity lasers and masers. Sometimes they claim fusion power. Suppose...they ripped a hole straight through to another dimension? Because whatever it was, _they,_ " she gestured vaguely toward the soldiers, "must've known people would start asking them questions eventually."

"That's a lot of speculation," Clarke said warily as she gently pulled the bottle from Lexa's grip and opened it back up.

"Are they?" Anya said, again nodding vaguely toward the bodies.

"...what do we do now?" Clarke asked instead of answering, she took another pull from the bottle.

"We need to cut them down and hide them," Anya answered quickly. "Pile them with boxes and stuff. If this gets out..."

"It'll only make things worse," Lexa finished for her and sighed loudly before adding, "Nazi war criminals...they killed themselves in their cells after the war was lost."

Anya nodded in understanding and Clarke capped the bottle one final time and set it on the ground. The sliding noises started again outside the loading door and they all took a step closer to each other.

"Okay," Lexa finally said.

"We have to make it quick, I want to get out of here," Clarke mumbled and the other two nodded. They turned back to the soldiers and Anya pointed her light at them again. She noticed they'd used the same clothesline that she'd tied around Jasper and her stomach dropped sharply before she let out a loud breath and shook the feeling off.

"Who goes?" Anya said as she pulled a box cutter out of her pocket.

"One each," Lexa only just got out and they all set to work.

When they left the storage area Anya walked away from them without another word.

"Come on," Lexa said and took Clarke's hand, leading her to the single bathroom near the other side of the meat department. As soon as they walked in their noses were filled with the pleasant smell of lemon cleaning liquid. The bathroom's apparent cleanliness after what they'd just done caused an odd flash of anger to course through Clarke and she had the split second thought of moving a few fertilizer bags in there but she shook it off.

Lexa flicked on the flashlight she was carrying and let the door swing shut behind them. She locked it and took a hold of Clarke's hand again and guided her over to the sink. She set the flashlight on the far edge before trying the spout and found it both surprising and odd that hot water immediately started coming out (apparently unaffected by what was going on outside) but she really didn't feel like looking a gift horse in the mouth right then.

They didn't look up at their reflections as they scrubbed at their hands with soap and scalding water.

Clarke kept scrubbing and scrubbing until her hands were flushed pink. Lexa immediately turned off the water and took a hold of them before she made herself bleed.

"Come here," Lexa whispered and hugged Clarke lightly, making sure their chests were pressed together but that she wasn't constraining her. "Breath with me," she said and took deep breaths until Clarke followed along and took a tight hold of the collar of Lexa's shirt and pulled her closer.

"Remember that time your mom walked in on us half naked on your bed? And you were so startled you shoved me off of you, making me fall onto your bedside drawer where I smashed into your lamp before I collapsed onto the floor?" Lexa huffed. "Your mom was out of your room so fast I almost thought we'd imagined her." She let out a small smile when Clarke wheezed out a groan.

"We agreed never to talk about that again," Clarke whispered, her grip on Lexa's shirt loosening.

"You agreed, I didn't," Lexa chuckled, her own pounding heart calming. "I needed like seven stitches Clarke."

"Three, Lexa, don't be dramatic," Clarke slowly grinned. "I couldn't look at my mom in the eye for a week."

"I'm just glad you'd finally gotten your licence so we didn't have to deal with the awkward silence that would've happened on our way to the emergency room if your mom had needed to drive us. And that she didn't offer to stitch me up herself," Lexa mumbled.

"She didn't know you'd gotten hurt. At least we got an awkward story out of it," Clarke shrugged as she fidgeted with Lexa's collar.

"And a cool scar to go along with it," Lexa grinned and Clarke took hold of her right hand and ran her thumb over small scar that had been left on the side of it. Clarke leaned her forehead on Lexa's as she continued to rub her thumb over the scar. They were silent for a moment.

"Thank you," Clarke said softly.

"I love you," Lexa whispered and Clarke smiled.

"I love you," Clarke whispered back without hesitation and Lexa kissed her once briefly, then let her lips hover over Clarke's for a moment, sharing a sigh that released some of the tension they'd been holding since Anya had walked up to them. She leaned in once more, letting their lips press and slide together continuously adding more and more pressure, letting her hands wander into Clarke's hips to pull her closer as Clarke pulled at her shirt to press their bodies together.

When Clarke's tongue grazed over her bottom lip, Lexa pulled away with a shuddering breath. They were left panting, trying to catch their breath as they tried to gauge what the other was thinking.

"I need you here with me," Clarke finally whispered letting out a sigh, resting their foreheads together again. "Please."

Lexa took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm here," she mumbled and closed the distance between their mouths again. Clarke dragged her hands over Lexa's arms as their tongues traced over each other's and grabbed her hands. She pulled them from her waist and set them on the button of her own jeans.

"Okay?" Clarke asked.

"Yes," Lexa said resolutely and kissed her again and undid the button.

They come out of the bathroom some time later with disheveled hair and slightly rumpled clothing, feeling lighter than they had since everything begun to happen. The fog was back to being bright white and it illuminated the market back up just enough so they could make their way around without the need of a flashlight, which they were thankful for because the one they'd left in the bathroom had run out of battery. They walked over to Anya who was sitting on a fold out chair eating mini donuts in the medicine aisle.

"Hey, sit down," she greeted and held out the box to them. They both took one and sat down in front of her as she set the box aside.

"Feel better?" Anya asked raising an eyebrow. The look on her face made Lexa's cheeks flush because it immediately told her Anya knew what they'd been doing. She quickly ran a hand through her hair trying to smooth it out even though they'd already declared it a lost cause in the bathroom.

"We do," Clarke answered and finished her donut quickly. She looked at Lexa who only took a bite out of hers and handed it over. Clarke ate that one as well and took the water bottle that Anya had beside her and drank the half that was left before settling next to Lexa again.

Anya coughed something sounding suspiciously like _whipped_ but they ignored her. She rolled her eyes and picked up the box of donuts again and handed it to Clarke, who readily took it from her and scooted closer to Lexa.

"They're all gone," Anya said after a beat. "The pink things and the birds, the last one was seen around four. Apparently the...wildlife _is_ a lot more active when it's dark."

"Don't let Jaha hear you say that," Lexa told her seriously as she took a donut from the box Clarke had and ate it slowly.

Anya nodded and said, "We can't stay here."

"There's plenty of food and drinks," Clarke muttered halfheartedly as she finished chewing her third donut.

"The supplies don't matter and you both know it. What do we do if one of the big creatures decides it's tired of making freaky sounds outside and breaks in here? Do we handle it with broom torches and bug spray?"

"You're right," Lexa sighed. "The mist is probably hiding us but it can't protect us forever. That giant squid monster found us easily enough."

"There are probably people here who won't want to leave," Clarke said thinking it over as she set the donut box aside and took Lexa's hand in her own.

"I'm going out," Anya said. "I'm going to take anyone who wants to come. You both should come with me."

"After what happened with Jasper?" Lexa asked frowning and ate the rest of the mini donut she'd been holding.

"Jasper went out half-assed, he didn't think anything through. That isn't what I'm going to do, or the people who come with me," Anya replied.

"You only have one gun," Clarke stressed and Lexa squeezed her hand until she marginally relaxed.

"There's a sports store across the intersection, remember? If we can get to it we'll have more guns than we'll know what to do with," Anya told them.

"That's one 'if' too many An."

"It's an iffy situation, Lex. Just think it over, okay? I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I got a chance to go over a few things. You want to hear them?"

"Sure," Lexa sighed, it's not like they had anything better to do either way.

"Come with me," Anya said as she stood up and walked over to the window, Clarke and Lexa followed. They approached one of the holes where a girl stood watch.

"The bugs are gone," the girl said turning toward the approaching footsteps.

"You can go get something to eat Maya, I'll keep an eye out," Anya told her.

"Okay, thanks," Maya replied quickly and walked off.

"What do you guys see out there," Anya asked them and gestured for them to look. Clarke and Lexa stepped closer and looked out into the fog.

"Just car bumpers," Clarke said and Lexa nodded after a second.

"The black pickup is mine," she told them and pointed to where a hint of solid black could be seen. "Remember yesterday? The lot was pretty jammed."

Clarke glanced at her mom's Explorer and remembered she'd only been able to park so close because Bellamy had taken her spot and someone else had pulled out up front. They nodded.

"Jasper and the people with him, they went out almost the full length of the clothesline. Then those noises started, like there's something big out there. Right?"

"Yeah," Lexa said, listening intently.

"So how come we didn't hear cars getting crushed? Screeching metal? Shattering glass?"

Clarke and Lexa realized they didn't know.

"No way they were out of the parking lot before whatever it was hit them. I think...I think we didn't hear any cars because they might be gone."

"Gone?" Clarke frowned.

"Just gone, fallen into the Earth, vaporized, you name it. Strong enough to splinter these beams and twist them out of shape and knock things off the shelves. The fire whistle stopped at the same time," Anya said and crossed her arms. They contemplated it for a few seconds.

"If you're right, how far do you think you'll get in your pickup?" Lexa asked her.

"I wasn't thinking of my truck. You came in the Explorer right Clarke?"

"Yeah."

"That's a four-wheel drive, we'd get farther in it," Anya said.

"What else is on your mind?" Lexa asked her with a sigh, she had a feeling there was more.

"The pharmacy next door is what. Their doors were propped open yesterday because of the lack of AC, why haven't any of them turned up over here?" Anya asked. "It's been over twelve hours. Aren't they hungry? They sure as hell aren't living off gum and Tylenol."

"They have candy and stuff," Clarke said shifting uneasily, knowing she was reaching but wanting to remain hopeful.

"Why would they stick to that when they have an entire market maybe twenty feet from their front door?"

"What are you saying?" Lexa asked as she roughly ran a hand through her hair. She was getting frustrated at not catching on.

"I'm saying that I want to get out of here but I don't want to become dinner for some low budget horror movie creature. A few of us could go next door and check out the situation at the pharmacy. Like a test run," Anya said, almost excitedly Clarke noted. _It figures the only time I see her excited about anything is when she's talking about a vaguely suicidal, post-apocalyptic recon mission_ , she thought.

"That isn't everything," Lexa said and Anya nodded. No matter how much time passed, Clarke continued to be amazed at how in sync they were. She'd been briefly jealous of their connection when she and Lexa had first started dating but it hadn't lasted long, quickly morphing into awe. It was honestly a little uncanny at times.

"Jaha, that pious asshole," Anya said jerking her thumb toward one of the middle aisles.

They looked over and noticed Jaha was no longer alone. He was talking and gesturing to two people, his face hard and grim. The two people were listening and nodding, alarmingly attentative.

"He's another reason I want to get out of here, he'll have more people with him by nightfall. If those pink things and birds come back tonight, he'll have a whole congregation by morning. Then we'll have to worry about those blood sacrifices, who he'll pick. It could be me, you, Clarke," Anya said seriously.

"That's insane," Clarke said but a cold chill had already crawled up her spine.

"A lot of this is insane. He's gaining power," Lexa said, knowing Anya had a point.

"Everyone's minds are fucked up, I know mine is. I spent half of last night thinking I must've lost all of my screws; that I was probably in a straitjacket somewhere, raving my head off about giant pink bugs and dinosaur birds and tentacles and it'd all go away as soon as the nice orderly came along and shot me up," Anya said as her face grew pale and hard. She looked over at Jaha for a second before turning back to them again. "I'm telling you now, people are going to get flakier and he's going to start sounding better and better to some of them. I don't want to be around when that happens."

They watched Jaha gesture and talk and talk. The people nodded their heads and ate every single word right up. Lexa glanced at Clarke, who reluctantly nodded at the silent question.

"We'll go with you, at least to the pharmacy. You, me, Clarke, maybe one or two others. We'll talk the rest over again when we get back."

Anya nodded crossing her arms and asked, "When?"

"Give us an hour."

"Okay," she said and walked away from them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The expedition to the pharmacy.

"You're serious?" Octavia asked them, crossing her arms. Lexa and Clarke had filled her in on what was about to happen and had asked if she'd want to join them. Murphy was passed out next to Bellamy on one of the mover pads a few feet away. They'd set an alarm on one their phones to wake them up every two hours in case Bellamy had a concussion. Better safe than sorry.

"We are," Clarke said as they all drank from their plastic cups full of Gatorade.

"I mean, yeah I'll go. We gotta hope for something right?" Octavia replied as she sipped on her drink and eyed Jaha, who'd gained another follower.

"He's spreading his poison and if people are frightened long enough, they'll turn to anyone who promises a solution," Lexa said eyeing him as well.

"But really, guys? A blood sacrifice?" Octavia looked back at them warily.

"The Aztecs were into it," Lexa replied and Octavia's eyes widened slightly.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe I should've paid more attention in history," she mumbled the last part and Lexa almost smiled.

Clarke's phone had finally died but she'd guessed it was around nine when they stood by the entrance getting ready to head out. There were six of them in total. Herself, Lexa, Anya, Octavia, Maya the cashier and Nyko the knife supplier. Anya had been talking to Nyko when Maya had overheard and offered to come with them.

Clarke had a canvas bag full of uncapped Raid while Lexa had managed to break the head of a mop and sharpened the long stick to a point. Anya had her gun while the rest of them had gotten wooden bats from the small sports display.

"I think we're ready," Octavia said as she jumped slightly in place and swung her bat around a few times, spurring herself on like Lexa had seen her do before a game.

"Alright, listen up," Lexa addressed the people in the market with what Octavia had dubbed her 'commander voice'. A dozen or so people drifted toward the door to see what was going on. Jaha and his new friends stood to the right of the crowd.

"We're going to the drugstore next door to see what the situation is over there. Hopefully we'll be able to bring something stronger back for Ms. Nygel." She was the lady that had been trampled the day before and Anya had gone to help. One of her legs had been broken and she was in a lot of pain.

"We're not taking any chances," Clarke took over. "At the first sign of trouble, we're coming back in—"

"And bring all of the fiends of hell down on our heads!" Jaha cried.

"He's right!" one of his followers backed. "You'll make them notice us! You'll make them come! Why can't you just leave well enough alone?"

A murmur of agreement went through the crowed and Lexa was fed up.

"You call this well enough?" she shouted at them and the follower looked away.

Jaha walked up to the group with blazing eyes. "You'll die out there, Lexa Heda!" Clarke put her arm up as if to keep him away from her.

"All of you will die out there! Haven't you realized that the end of the world has come? The Fiend has been let loose! Star Wormwood blazes and each one of you that steps out that door will be torn apart! And they'll come for those of us who are left, just as this good woman said! Are you people going to let that happen?" He was appealing to the onlookers then, and a muttering of chatter ran through them. "After what happened to those people yesterday? It's death! _It's death! It's_ —"

A can of peas suddenly struck him in the chest and he staggered backward with a startled yelp.

Monty came forward. "Shut up already," he said, then almost as an afterthought, "Sir."

"He serves the Foul One!" Jaha screamed pointing emphatically at Monty with a crazed smile.

Monty's gaze never wavered, Jaha's spell had been broken. "I'm coming with you guys," he said and joined their recon team. Clarke handed him one of the Raid cans and he took it gratefully.

Before Jaha could wind himself up again, Anya lead them out of the market followed by Lexa, then Clarke, then everyone else. The door shut behind them and they all walked together, making sure not to lose track of each other in the thick fog.

The heavy, acrid smell of the mist immediately engulfed them. _Only twenty feet_ , Lexa thought, _it's only twenty feet_.

Anya walked slowly ahead of them, her gun hanging from her right hand. To their left a red brick wall replaced the glass window of the market, to their right the first rank of cars loomed out of the mist like ghost ships. A trash can materialized, followed by a bench and a payphone.

"Shit!" Anya yelled. "Fuck, look at this!" She'd gotten to the pharmacy before all of them and everyone sped up to see what she was talking about.

The drugstore had been the scene of a slaughter.

Anya and Lexa stood closest, almost on top of it. The people in the market had been saved by the lack of electricity. The automatic doors wouldn't open on their own, but the pharmacy doors had been propped open to let air in. The power had knocked out their AC and they'd opened the doors to let in the breeze, only something else had come in as well.

A man with a maroon t-shirt laid face down in the doorway. Only, Lexa startled when she realized, there were a few white patches at the bottom. The maroon was dried blood.

"His head is...gone," Octavia whispered. Maya, apparently having had enough, turned away with her hand over her mouth. Her eyes red-rimmed and darting around before she staggered back toward the market.

No one said anything and Anya stepped inside first. She stood to one side of the double doors with her gun pointing down. Lexa stepped in beside her, taking in the wrecked pharmacy. Monty stood outside leaning against the payphone, his shoulders shook with the force of his dry-heaving. Octavia grabbed him from the the back of his shirt and dragged him into the store followed by Clarke and Nyko.

"I seem to be running out of hope," Anya whispered to Lexa.

"Don't count us out yet," she replied.

The carnage was bad enough, but the place looked like it had been the scene of some out of control party. What they first thought to be streamers were spread and hung like decorations. Though, they weren't broad and flat, they were more like very thin cables almost the same bright white of the fog itself. Magazines and books dangled in the air from some of them. A bloody hand hung over one of the medicine shelves.

"What the fuck is this?" Clarke asked no one in particular.

Lexa looked carefully at the wires, only to be hit a second later with a sudden realization. "Out," she said tersely. "Everyone out, _now._ "

Anya looked at her. "Lex—"

"They're spiderwebs," Nyko suddenly realized as well. A scream came from the mist, one of pain. _Maya_.

"Get out!" Lexa shouted but they weren't fast enough.

Something sounding like a bullwhip came out of the mist, impossible to see against the white background. They only saw it once it corded around Monty's thigh over his jeans. He beat it with the can of Raid repeatedly. _"It hurts!"_ he screamed.

Nyko and Octavia grabbed for him but Lexa held Clarke back by her arm as she realized why the man outside had been missing his head. They watched in horror as the thin cable that had twisted around Monty's leg sank into his flesh and that leg of his jeans cut off and slid down his leg. A neat, circular incision in his flesh spilled out blood as the cable went deeper.

Octavia and Nyko pulled Monty away hard and the cord snapped as he was freed. Then suddenly the air was filled with the bullwhip cracks and thin white cables drifted down around them coated in the same corrosive substance. Anya dodged two of them as they landed close to her on the floor making it hiss. Octavia swung her bat at one that came at her but it only got stuck then jerked out of her hand into the mist.

"Get back to the market!" Clarke screamed. Anya ran forward and put Monty's arm around herself, Octavia did the same with his other one. They all ran out as white strands continued to drift down around them.

One of them wrapped around Nyko's arm, another whipped around his neck and he was dragged back a few paces before Lexa jumped in and pulled at his other arm. They jerked forward and the cables snapped. She put his arm over her shoulders helping him stand leaving her hand with her weapon free as Clarke came closer to do the same with his other one. Blood was seeping at an alarming rate from both his arm and neck.

Monty slumped as he passed out and Anya jerked him up. "Come on!" she yelled as she and Octavia stumbled along with his dead weight, the leg that the strand of web had wrapped around hung away from his body at an odd angle. Clarke and Lexa struggled to help Nyko as he got heavier and heavier.

They all froze as some creature resembling a large spider came out of the mist in front of them. It was about the size of a big dog, with yellowish matted fur on it's many legs and pomegranate-like eyes. It closed in on them, spinning its webbing from its upper body. The strands floated toward them in what seemed to be a net and Anya, level headed as always, raised her arm and shot the thing point blank. It, much like the tentacles had, started hissing and spouting black sludge out of its wound. It jerked left before disappearing back into the mist with it's net trailing behind it, leaving behind puddles of thick black slime.

The clatter of Nyko's bat on the floor was heard and Clarke looked over at him and spoke up.

"H—he's dead Lexa, let him go! The thing got an artery, we have to let him go," she said as a strand came down and wrapped around her right arm, she jerked it away instantly and it snapped as her flesh sizzled, a bloody welt left behind. Lexa grunted in frustration before they set Nyko's body slowly on the floor.

"Blake!" Lexa warned as another spider thing came out of the mist. It darted forward and wrapped its legs around Octavia and she let go of Monty letting Anya bare his weight as she swing her bat at it repeatedly. Clarke stepped forward with her cans of Raid outstretched, the spider reached for her as well before she pressed the buttons and sprayed it with poison. The spider let out an awful squeal before lurching back into the mist. Clarke threw the cans after it and there was a dull thump before the muffled sound of them rattling on the floor.

Lexa jumped forward and wrapped one of Octavia's arms over her shoulders helping her stay standing. Her thigh had been badly burned.

"Thanks commander," Octavia grit out and Lexa let out a startled laugh.

"Just don't pass out on me Blake."

Clarke went over to take Octavia's place on Monty's side opposite Anya and they all made a mad dash for the market doors, more cords landing behind them. One of them caught Clarke's canvas bag and pulled it out of her hands. She let it go without a fight.

As they reached the entrance Anya and Clarke stumbled in with Monty but Lexa saw a smaller spider come out of the fog above the door before she and Octavia could go in.

"Steady," Lexa grunted at Octavia who immediately set her weight on her good leg. Lexa pulled the sharped stick she'd been carrying over her head and heaved it at the spider. It impaled the thing and it squealed and dropped off the wall.

"Lexa!" Clarke yelled as she held the door open for them.

They both ran around the writhing spider and into the store. Well, Octavia limped and Lexa pulled her along and Clarke let the door swing shut behind them.

Pale, frightened faces met them all as they panted, shirts sticking to their bodies with sweat.

"Octavia!" Bellamy ran forward and helped his sister stand, taking her from Lexa. "That was the stupidest thing you've ever fucking done! What were you thinking?" he yelled as he put an arm around her back and the other under her knees and picked her up, ignoring her feeble protests.

"I'm fine," she panted and turned to Murphy who was hovering somewhere nearby. "Thanks for not letting him go after me," she said knowingly and he smirked lightly and nodded. Someone came over and helped Anya carry Monty as Clarke hugged Lexa as tight as she could with an injured arm.

"What?" someone called out in a hoarse voice.

"Spiders," Lexa said grimly and the group walked toward the pharmacy aisle, leaving an eerie silence in their wake.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of stuff is discussed, vague plans are made, and someone else dies.

After tending to their injuries as best they could, everyone broke off and turned in for some much needed rest. Lexa and Clarke moved to the back by the meat department and sat on one of their moving pads. They could hear the occasional scream of someone waking up from a nightmare.

"Did the medicine help? How's it feeling?" Lexa asked as she lightly grazed her fingers over Clarke's gauze covered arm.

"Hurts," Clarke said simply and Lexa stopped touching it. They sat there for a while before Anya came over, trailed by a stubbornly limping Octavia, her brother and Murphy. They all sat in front of them, Bellamy fussing over his sister making sure she didn't hurt herself further as Octavia swatted him away.

"Monty's not doing too well," Anya sighed. She handed Lexa the water bottle she'd been carrying and she took it with a small nod.

"The medicine I gave him is not nearly strong enough," Clarke said lowly. "Without an actual doctor, or supplies for that matter, his chances aren't very good."

"You think he'll make it?" Lexa asked taking a big drink of water before handing it over to Clarke who finished it off before answering reluctantly.

"I don't know." They all frowned.

"We're also worried about Jaha," Octavia said after a moment.

"He's stirring shit up," Murphy added. Bellamy nodded in agreement, rubbing at his eyes.

"He's got almost a dozen people now, like some crazy cult," Anya gritted out.

"Your little excursion to the pharmacy got two people killed and three injured. I'm not saying it wasn't the smart thing to do, at least with the information you had, but now Jaha's looking better and better to some people," Murphy said, eyeing Bellamy's excessive blinking warily.

"A dozen?" Clarke frowned and ran a hand through her hair. "Already?"

"Only eight," Bellamy said. "But he never shuts up, he just keeps going and going like he doesn't even need to sleep."

"It's not many, compared to how many people are actually stuck here but...with most of the Flat-Earthers gone, it makes him the single largest political force," Lexa sighed.

"Flat-Earthers?" Bellamy questioned.

"Finn's followers."

"Nice," he muttered quietly. There was a silent agreement that their petty fighting needed to be set aside but he wasn't willing to let it _all_ go.

"He's...started talking about the sacrifice again," Octavia said. "Some guy went up to him and told him to shut up and two of his followers got all shove-y and preachy about freedom of speech and all that bull. The guy ended up with a bloody nose. It's getting serious."

"We're not sure if it'd actually escalate to the point of killing someone, but if this damned fog doesn't go away I sure as hell don't want to be here to find out. I want to get out," Anya said.

"Easier said than done," Clarke told her, rubbing at her bandaged arm absently.

"I'm willing to die trying, at this point," Anya told them.

"There've been four suicides," Murphy said suddenly. Anya, Clarke, and Lexa startled but only Clarke spoke up.  
  
"What?" Had they found the soldiers? But wait...four?

"Pills," he said. "A few guys carried the bodies to the storage."

"Fuck," Anya whispered roughly, clenching her hands. They had a regular morgue back there.

"Jaha could have more people talked around by tomorrow," Octavia said. "Who do you think he'd single out for the sacrifice?" She looked pointedly at Lexa and Clarke.

"I think maybe at least all of us could get out of here," Anya said, willing her voice to remain even. "We might not get far, but we'd be out of _here_."

"How?" Clarke asked.

"I think," Lexa started. "...I think the things out there can be blindsided."

"Why do you think that?" Bellamy asked what they were all thinking.

"We've been left pretty much alone. The pink things might've been attracted by the flashlights, the birds were just following their food. The squid thing only attacked when we opened the dock and the...the pharmacy, those spiders only got in because they'd left their doors open or else they would've come here too. Jasper and those people, whatever got them was big that's for sure but it never came near us. So maybe..."

"They're attracted to scent," Anya finished and Lexa nodded. "We could go in Clarke's car." She looked questioningly at Clarke who nodded her consent. "It's a seven seater right?" she asked and Clarke nodded again. "We'd all fit. It's also a four-by-four. With the windows rolled up they wouldn't smell us, it's perfect."

"What if they're attracted to some other scent, like the exhaust?" Bellamy asked.

"Then we'd be fucked," Octavia said.

"Or the motion of the car through the fog," Murphy added.

"I don't think so, not without the scent of pray," Lexa told him.

"But you don't know that," Murphy said.

"No," Lexa sighed resignedly.

"Where would we go?" Octavia asked.

"First to get my mom," Clarke said hastily. She was being selfish, she knew it but she couldn't help it. Lexa and Anya didn't know any of their blood relatives, Murphy hated his parents and Bellamy and Octavia had been on their own for over a year. She was the only one who had someone at home and she'd be risking them all to go check, but she needed to be sure.

"Clarke..." Lexa hesitated.

"Please, I have to make sure. I have to be sure," Clarke said and took a deep breath to stop herself from crying. Lexa scooted closer and put an arm around her, pulling her close. Clarke let out a shuddering breath and rested her head on Lexa's shoulder.

"There're things everywhere out there, they'd get you as soon as you stepped out of the car," Anya told her.

"If that happens than you guys can go on without me, you can take the car," Clarke said and Lexa held her tighter at the thought.

"Then what?" Murphy asked, still skeptical.

"We can go south," Lexa said.

"Away from the mountain, the mist came from that direction," Anya said. "We just go south and hope we get out of the mist."

"How much gas is in your car?" Bellamy asked Clarke.

"It has a full tank."

"What if it's not possible to get out," Murphy finally said.

"The alternative seems to be waiting around to see who Jaha points his golden finger at," Anya reasoned.

"So, today?" Bellamy asked. Everyone was pretty much convinced.

"It's already afternoon, those things get active at night. How about tomorrow, very early," Anya suggested.

"What about Monty?" Octavia asked.

"If he makes it we'll ask him," Anya told her and Octavia paled and nodded. "So?"

Everyone agreed.

"Don't say anything to anyone. I'll put a few bags of groceries under the checkout closest to the door. If we're lucky we can sneak out before anyone catches on," Anya said and she looked over to where Jaha could only just be seen. "If he knew, he'd try to stop us."

"You really think so?" Bellamy asked and pressed his palms to his eyes in exhaustion before running them through his hair.

"Yes," Anya said certainly and he nodded after a second. "We should still sleep away from each other, we don't need to take any chances. I'll wake everyone up when it's time." They all nodded and got up, leaving Clarke and Lexa alone again.

They settled back on the moving pad, using the second one as a pillow. Lexa held Clarke this time. Several minutes passed before either of them spoke up.

"I was really looking forward to sharing a tiny dorm room with someone and dragging you to parties every weekend," Clarke muttered.

"I was really looking forward to seeing you try," Lexa replied and Clarke scoffed.

"You know you would've come. You had fun once I managed to convince you to actually attend the after game parties."

"That's because you were with me...I see what you did there," Lexa said begrudgingly .

"I rest my case," Clarke said and smiled lightly as Lexa pulled her closer. After a moment she spoke up again, more somberly that time. "I wish I'd taken the time to hear my mom out."

"You were hurt, she took your dad off life support without talking to you about it. You had every right to be angry."

"I know, but you were right. I should've tried harder to hear her out. I never really found out why she did it that way, and now I might never get to know," she sighed before changing the subject. "I know we joked about it when we were still in school but I really can't believe Jaha snapped like this."

"It's been a long time coming, circumstances are just in his favor," Lexa said.

"You think so?"

"I do, he didn't seem as stable after his wife passed. That's when he started getting really into his religion, remember? He moved all that religious propaganda into his office and started handing out those pamphlets, even though it's against school policy or whatever. It only got worse when Wells left for college last year."

"I guess you're right," Clarke said once she thought about it.

"We'll make it through," Lexa whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I think so," Lexa replied with some amount of certainty and Clarke sighed.

"I just really want to see the sun again," Clarke whispered and Lexa let out a heavy breath because she really wanted that too. The mist had blocked it off, and when it was out you could only see a silver coin in the sky. She'd go through hell to see it again and at that point, she wondered if that's exactly what she'd have to do.

Lexa pressed a lingering kiss on Clarke's forehead and they fell into a light sleep after that.

"How long have you been awake?" Clarke asked as she woke up some time later and rubbed at her eyes.

"Maybe an hour," Lexa said.

"What, why?" Clarke asked as she looked around. The amount of light around made her guess she'd slept about four hours.

"What?" Clarke asked when she turned back to see Lexa hesitating.

"You uh...you kept talking in your sleep," she finally answered. She'd also screamed once and that had been what had woken her, but she didn't know what good it'd do to tell her that.

"Oh," Clarke said startled, she'd never done that before. "Sorry."

"It's okay, I wouldn't have slept for much longer anyway," Lexa said and Clarke nodded uneasily.

That afternoon passed slower than either of them were comfortable with but eventually darkness crept up on the Ark again. The pink bugs returned, then the birds chasing them down and taking them away. Right around midnight there was a loud, low roar that Lexa swore sounded like the T. rex from Jurassic Park. The sound was drawn out, startling everyone and making them turn their heads anxiously towards the windows.

As predicted, Jaha had gained about six more followers by the wee hours. Quint the butcher was among them.

He talked and talked, seeming to need no sleep and his followers ate every word up.

About an hour later Lexa noticed Anya put a bag of groceries under the checkout nearest the out door, then another one a few minutes later. It looked like no one but her had noticed so she dozed off again with Clarke, who'd managed to fall asleep ten minutes prior.

Anya shook Lexa awake.

"What time is it?" Lexa asked groggily as she slowly sat up, Clarke woke up beside her at the noise.

"Around four thirty, it's time to go," Anya answered shortly.

"So we might have a problem," Octavia said cautiously as she approached them limping. Behind her, they noticed Murphy was leading Bellamy to them with an arm around his waist.

"What?" Lexa asked warily as she and Clarke finally found their bearings and stood stood up.

"Bell threw up and he can't seem to stand up straight," Octavia said nervously as she helped Murphy balance her brother once they stood next to her.

"Bellamy," Clarke called out to him but he continued to look around. "Bellamy look at me," she tried again as she went up to him. He didn't seem to hear her again and she grabbed his face and looked into his eyes but she couldn't quite make them out in the dark.

"Pass me a flashlight," she told anyone and Lexa picked up and handed her the one they'd been using. She flicked it on and flashed it in one of his eyes, then the other. His pupils were larger than normal and his eyes kept shifting around not seeming to focus on anything.

"Fuck, he's concussed," Clarke sighed as she flicked the flashlight off and set it back down.

"But he was fine before," Murphy said worriedly.

"The symptoms can be delayed sometimes," Clarke sighed running a hand through her hair. Sometimes she didn't know if her mother passing on so much medical knowledge to her was a burden or a gift.

"What do we do? We can't leave him here," Octavia told them vehemently.

"Well, those things out there are not invulnerable, we've seen that plenty of times . We'll just have to be extra careful. Anya, you can help Murphy lead Bellamy to the car and Octavia, you can ride on my back," Lexa said.

"What, why? I can still walk," Octavia protested.

"Yes but we might need to run," Lexa told her and Octavia nodded reluctantly.

"I'm coming too." They all looked over at the new voice and found Finn standing a few feet away from them. They hadn't noticed he'd been lurking in the shadows, watching their little huddle for a while and listening in before he'd finally spoken up.

"Why?" Clarke asked eyeing him. He looked completely calm, almost as if none of what was happening was registering. _Because that's not off-putting at all_ , Clarke thought.

"I want to get out of here too," he said and crossed his arms. Clarke looked around warily, nobody seemed sure that was a good idea. "I'll tell Jaha if you don't let me come with you," he added and Clarke just barely suppressed an eye roll.

"You pull any shit and we drop you out of the car while its moving," Octavia said after no one seemed to want to answer him. He nodded and continued lurking on the outskirts of their circle.

"What about Monty? He wants to come too," Octavia spoke up again.

"The bandage on his leg is holding up but he's not exactly up to walking," Anya said.

"Okay, Monty on my back and Octavia you can lean on Clarke if we need to run," Lexa tried and they all nodded.

"Can you really carry Monty?" Murphy asked warily.

"He probably weighs less than Octavia," Lexa told him and he nodded after a second.

_"Atonement!"_   They startled as they suddenly heard Jaha scream. "It's atonement we need to think about now! We have been scrouged with whips and scorpions! We have been punished for delving into secrets forbidden by God of old! We have seen the lips of the Earth open! We have seen the obscenities of nightmare! The rock will not hide them, the dead tree gives no shelter! And how will it end! What will it stop?"

"Atonement!" some shouted back starting a chant. "Atonement..atonement..."

"Let me hear you say it like you mean it!" Jaha shouted, his voice crackling and hoarse but still powerful.

"Atonement! Atonement!" the crowd shouted together.

"That's right!" he shouted deliriously. "Atonement is what will clear this fog! Atonement will clear off these monsters and abominations! Atonement will drop the scales of the mist from our eyes and let us see!" His voice lowered in register. "And what does the Bible say atonement is? What is the only cleanser for sin in the Eye and Mind of God?"

"Blood." Quint the butcher was the one who'd answered him. Quint the butcher who'd been cutting meat for as long as any of them could remember, who was more well acquainted with knives than any of them could ever hope to be.

"Blood..." they whispered. "Blood...blood..."

"Lexa come on," Clarke muttered and squeezed her hand. "We have to go get Monty."

They all headed to where they'd last left him recovering and found him sitting against a shelf. The bandage Clarke had wrapped around his leg was soaked in blood and his hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat.

"Hey guys," he muttered, weakly waving.

"You still up for going out?" Lexa asked him and he nodded immediately. She faced away from him and crouched in front of him.

"Think you can handle the ride?" she joked and he smiled lightly before wrapping his arms around her neck. Clarke helped him settle on Lexa's back as she stood up.

"Am I too heavy?" he asked.

"You're practically a baby," Lexa said and he relaxed a little.

"I'm good," he said at Octavia's questioning look. Lexa tried her best to not put pressure on his wound but she could still feel him digging his fingers into her skin.

"I'd rather die trying to get out of here than have to listen to Jaha turn everyone against each other," he said seriously and Lexa nodded.

"Okay so Clarke, you're on grocery bag duty," Lexa started. "You'll go first, the Explorer is a four door so you'll open up the driver's door and the back door at the same time. Octavia you can climb in the back and Clarke you'll be the driver. Murphy and Anya, you'll help Bellamy in through the back door and then the two of you will have to jump to the farthest seats. I can follow with Monty in the back then jump to the front—"

"And where exactly do you all think you're going?" It was Jaha.

He stood at the head of the checkout lane where Anya had hidden their bags with about fifteen people behind him, blocking the only exit. They all seemed to be in some state of shock, but they stood solidly.

Lexa nearly cringed when Monty dug his nails deeper.

"We're going out now, Mr. Jaha," Clarke spoke up, Octavia settled beside her and she got ready to help her run. Anya and Murphy took their cue and both grabbed one of Bellamy's arms, who still didn't seem to quite know what was going on. "Let us through."

"You can't go out, that way is death. Haven't you learned by now?"

"We haven't interfered with you," Lexa said. "All we want is the same courtesy."

He bent and grabbed the bags Anya had hidden and set them on a conveyor belt. He paused (rather dramatically, if you asked Clarke) before grabbing one and smashing it on the floor. It ripped open, sending shattered glass and fizzing soda in every direction.

"These are the sort of people who brought it on!" he shouted. "People who will not bend to the will of the Almighty! Sinners in pride, haughty they are, and stubborn! It is from their number that the sacrifice must come! _From their number the blood of atonement!"_

A rising murmur of agreement goaded him on, he was in a frenzy. Spit flew from his lips as he screamed at the people crowding behind him. "It's the blonde we want! Grab her! Take her! It's the blonde we need!"

Clarke faltered and took a step back as the crowd surged forward. Lexa tensed and stepped closer to her.

"Get all three!" Jaha yelled. _"Get her deviant girlfriend and the boy too—"_

A single sharp crack rang out and everything froze.

Quint the butcher and some other man stopped about ten paces from them. Quint had that look that Lexa had seen on many of the people there over the last two days, the look of someone whose mind had snapped.

The other man backed up, staring at Clarke with frightened eyes. His backing-up became a run and run he did, turning a corner and tripping on a can before scrambling away until they couldn't see him anymore.

Lexa turned and saw Clarke standing with one arm raised perfectly still, holding Anya's gun. Jaha still stood at the head of the checkout, both of his large hands clasped over his stomach as blood poured from between his fingers and stained his slacks. His mouth opened and closed, until he finally made the words come out.

"You will die out there," he said before pitching slowly forward onto his knees, then onto the floor.

The focus of the crowd had broken, making them back away and spread out. None of them took their eyes off their fallen leader as blood poured out of him. "You murdered him!" one of them cried out but none of them said anything about having been planning to do the same to Clarke.

Clarke's unwavering hand started to shake and Lexa touched her shoulder gently. "Clarke, let's go. And thank you."

"I killed him," she said hoarsly.

"Yes, that's why I thanked you but we have to go now."

They began to move and Clarke handed Anya, who was looking at her with a new found respect, the gun she'd taken from her pocket and grabbed the only grocery bag that survived while helping Octavia along. The others followed before they stopped at the door.

"I wouldn't have shot him if there was another way," Clarke said.

"I know," Lexa replied.

"You believe me?"

"I do."

"Then let's get the hell out of here."

They all filled out through the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two more chapters yo


End file.
